Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
by Doppler Effect
Summary: After the battle with the Father, the Truth accidentally takes a compounded price from Ed: His memories, his arm, and sends him to Washington D.C., where an NCIS team is conducting a murder investigation.
1. Impossible

Impossible

a/n: Some of you are coming to this from my FMA/HP crossover. Some of you are coming from SamayouTamashi (Tsuki). And some of you came upon this from neither. However you got here, thanks for reading. I promise to try and not make anyone OOC.

I don't own NCIS because I don't work for CBS, and I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist because I'm not that awesome. I'm awesome, just not _that_ awesome.

* * *

The Truth snorted at the proposition the alchemist in front of him as just said. "Take your alchemy? I think you forgot something." Leering, he leaned forward to deliver the news. "_I_ choose my prices, and you pay them. _I_ decide, not you."

"Go screw yourself," Ed snapped.

"I'll pass." The Truth smirked, leaning back again. "Your memories and your arm. Oh don't worry, I'll give you your metal arm back," the Truth said, as Ed's arm vanished, but reappeared on the Truth. Ed's automail reattached itself to Ed. "Your memories are permanent, but that takes away some of the pain, now doesn't it? You only know why you're losing them now. Well, see you later." He shrugged, and waved Ed to one of the Gates.

Ed tried to lunge back through, snarling, to get at the Truth. The Truth, in turn, ignored him except to give a quick grin at him as he disappeared.

There was a moment of silence that echoed through the empty space.

"The kid's got some nerve…" the Truth said to himself, chuckling. Suddenly, he glanced back at the Gate in front of him…and the other two beside him. One had appeared when a naval officer passed through at his death. Ed had come at the same time.

Being the only one who could read what the lettering meant on the doors at a glance, he saw 'Central, Amestris' on the one Ed had come through, and 'Washington D.C., United States' on the other.

The Truth got an anime sweat mark, and gave an embarrassed grin to no one in particular. "Hehe…uh…whoops…" With a hint of amusement, he realized he'd not only taken the alchemist's memories and arm, but sent him to a different universe as well. "Erm…what if I let you get your memories back, alchemist? Since I can't bring you here if you don't choose to come. Yeah…I think that'll work…"

* * *

"What have we got?" Special Agent Jethro Gibbs asked, arms crossed.

"Jonathon Kieter. 34, divorced, and last seen a week ago by the couple down the street. He was supposed to be shipped out five days ago," Dinozzo, looking over Gibbs' shoulder at the body, said.

"Who found him?"

"Ironically, the same couple that last saw him alive. They were taking a stroll, and crap, dead body." Gibbs gave him a look, and Dinozzo added, "Sorry, boss. Just a bit of wry hu-"

"Has anyone talked to them yet?" Gibbs interrupted, redirecting his attention back to the dead naval officer.

"No."

"Get someone on that," Gibbs said, and walked around the body to Ducky as Dinozzo wandered off to find where McGee was to send him to do his bidding. "Cause of death?" Gibbs asked, aware of Dinozzo's intentions, but ignoring them.

"He was poisoned shortly before death," Ducky said. "You know, I had a case like this when I was in…" Gibbs tuned him out, glancing across the yard to where Dinozzo was 'arguing' (flirting) with Ziva, and McGee had been sent to interrogate the couple.

Frowning, he walked a distance away from the body. Turning back around, he saw the clearing in the park they were standing in was oddly shaped. A perfect circle. Odd, since the park advertised being entirely natural. The worn dirt paths-also supposed to be natural-were also in a circle around the body, symmetrical even where the paths lead into the clearing.

He called out to Ziva, who was taking pictures of the crime scene while Dinozzo gathered evidence, that the park rangers needed to be called. Nodding, she complied.

When a park ranger walked out of the trees later, he looked around, confused. Gibbs strode up to him. The park ranger turned to Gibbs, and said, "This wasn't here yesterday when I made my rounds. What happened?"

Gibbs blinked. "You're saying this clearing appeared overnight?"

"Yeah. Well, no, that's impossible, but…what?" The park ranger was really confused now. "Look, what did you guys _do_ to this area? I know you're picky about not having anything mess with your crime scenes, but this is ridiculous."

"_We_ didn't do this. It's a perfect circle, so I called to ask you what the hell caused this," Gibbs said, like it was obvious.

"I'm as lost as you are." The park ranger held up his hands in a 'don't ask me' gesture. "I'll call up the others to see if they know, but I don't know what could cause this."

Gibbs nodded, and walked away from him, before pausing, and turning back. "I take it these paths weren't like this either?"

The park ranger glanced at the paths. "No." He turned with a confused expression on and walked out of the clearing.

"Hey, boss." McGee said, walking toward him. "The couple doesn't know anything. They-"

"Don't assume, McGee," Gibbs said turning quickly back to the crime scene, where the other three members of the team were. He was about to ask if they'd gotten anything, before a collection of sounds stopped him.

"Ah!"

"Erp!"

…

"Ow…"

Gibbs turned back around, raising an eyebrow. "What is it, McGee?" The other eyebrow went up as he saw McGee laying on his back, a blond kid sprawled on top of him.

The kid sat up, rubbing his head. He glanced at the NCIS officer. "Hey, sorry about that. …Um, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think." Ziva and Dinozzo had looked over and were watching in amusement.

"Hey, did McGee get squished by a kid?" Dinozzo asked teasingly.

"Poor kid…" Ziva said sarcastically, purposely ignoring her literally-fallen friend.

"I'm not a kid!" the blond snapped and, fuming, got to his feet. He glanced around the crime scene. "Uh…what happened? This wasn't here when I went to sleep…"

"In a tree?" Gibbs asked doubtfully, gesturing to the tree it seemed the new person had fallen from.

The boy glanced up. "Yeah."

"I think that's illegal in this park." Ziva piped up.

"Oh, really?" he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that, then. Didn't know."

"You _didn't know_?" Dinozzo snorted. "You kidding? There're signs posted all over the outskirts of the park saying 'Don't climb the trees'. And unless you _jumped_ into the tree… Hey, McGee, remember _The Matrix_? They were jumping like that all the time-"

"Dinozzo." Gibbs said, pulling his agent back into reality. He turned to the boy.

The boy looked at all of them and shifted his weight. "Well…" he finally spoke, "I guess I would've remembered that if I remembered walking in here."

"So conveniently, you conveniently don't remember conveniently walking into the same convenient place, and conveniently falling asleep in a conveniently placed tree conveniently near where a naval officer was conveniently shot?" Dinozzo asked, conveniently raising an eyebrow.

"Jeez, want to fit any more 'conveniently' in there?" the boy said sarcastically. He regained seriousness. "No, I don't remember walking in here. Hell, I can't remember anything, other than walking out of the clearing, and having nowhere to go. I was tired, so I went to sleep in this _convenient_ tree."

"You seem to know your way around an interrogation," Gibbs noted out loud.

The boy blinked. "I…do? Well, okay then."

"Do you know why?" he pressed.

The boy gave him an exasperated look. "Yeah, I don't have any memory, but I know why I can work in an interrogation."

Gibbs gave a slight shrug before turning to McGee, who was still on the ground. "Having fun, McGee?"

"Not really, boss," McGee responded, getting to his feet.

"Hey, boss," Dinozzo said, walking toward them. "We got everything we need. Should we head back?"

"Yeah," Gibbs said. "Dinozzo, Ziva, you ride together. You," he glanced at the kid, "and McGee, with me." He turned, and walked quickly away from the clearing. Palmer and Ducky headed with the body to the van, and the kid began to follow McGee and Gibbs to Gibbs' car.

Dinozzo nudged him. "Hey, look. He doesn't seem that much like a happy camper yet, but he hasn't had his coffee. Once he does, he'll be better."

"He already had his coffee, Dinozzo," Ziva sighed. "Gibbs is always like this."

"You do realize I'm not that far away, right?" Gibbs called back without turning around.

Dinozzo winced. "Oh, busted."

Ziva rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

"Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs," Abby said, appearing around the corner and hurrying to the already-mentioned-several-times-in-one-sentence person.

"What?" Gibbs asked, looking up at the sound of his name.

"Well, you know how you asked me to run a DNA match on the person you found at the crime scene?" Abby asked. They were in the office area, and the other four within hearing, including the boy they'd found-who was sitting on a chair pulled over-looked up in curiosity. "Well-hey, are you him?" she suddenly asked, seeing him look up with the others.

"Abby? Topic?" Gibbs reminded, redirecting her attention.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I ran it, and… never mind, just come look at this. It's kind of hard to explain." Abby said, bustling him down to her lab.

The others exchanged glances and shrugged. Gibbs would tell them when he told them.

"What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked, looking around her lab for anything out of sorts.

"This! Look at this, Gibbs! It's impossible!" Abby exclaimed, motioning toward her computer in front of her with both hands.

"What's impossible?" he asked, not knowing what she meant.

"This DNA coding! Okay, his eye color? They're golden. Well, I assumed those were contacts, and he'd like dyed his hair or something. Which is probably what the rest of you thought too, but whatever. The point is, it's not! All the DNA samples you gave me say it's natural. Which is impossible. People can't have golden hair and eyes, but his DNA says differently! How's that possible?"

"I don't know, Abbs. Did you get a match?"

"No! I don't know how the kid's doing this, but I can't find him anywhere! So I looked up his image, and I _still_ don't have anything!"

Gibbs frowned. "Well, keep looking. He's somewhere. He exists, doesn't he?"

"Technically, but not according to this!" Abby threw up her hands in frustration. "This is really irritating, Gibbs. Does he remember anything yet?" She turned back around hopefully.

"No," Gibbs replied. "He's probably from a poor country. He didn't know how to work the vending machine, he was trying to figure out the coffee machine when Dinozzo showed him, and he's decided the computers are figments of his imagination."

"Wow. Bring him down here and he'll have a heart attack or something," Abby said. "I'll tell you when I find something, okay?"

With a nod, Gibbs left.

* * *

"So? Any news on the shorty?" Dinozzo asked.

"Yeah. McGee, what've you got?"

"We called in the ex's. Apparently, he divorced twice. They should be in here any time now."

Gibbs walked around to his desk, and sat down. He glanced at Ziva and Dinozzo, who were looking at him. "Well? What are you waiting for? Ask the neighbors and his friends. Go." He said, and looked down at his paperwork. As Ziva and Dinozzo started to leave, he called to them, "And take him with you," he motioned to the boy. "See if anyone recognizes him, or looks like him."

"Um, boss?" Dinozzo asked, as the kid joined him and Ziva.

"What, Dinozzo?" Gibbs sighed.

"Well…you mean by features, right?" He asked hesitantly.

"No. Abby says it's not contacts and it's not dyed. Look for anyone like him." Gibbs said. He looked up. "Are you still standing there?"

"Asking neighbors and friends, looking for anyone like the shorty," Dinozzo said, turning to the elevator.

"Hey, watch the short jokes!" the kid yelled at him, grumpily following the two agents into the elevator. Gibbs saw Dinozzo smirk before the elevator doors closed, and Ziva roll her eyes.

* * *

"One last question," Ziva said. "Do you recognize him, or anyone like him?" Ziva motioned to the boy, who was standing in between her and Dinozzo.

The last of the neighbors shook his head. "Nah, never seen him. What's his name, and I'll ask around?"

The two agents exchanged glances. "Sorry, we don't know," Dinozzo said. "Thank you for your time." He turned away from the door with Ziva and the boy. The door closed behind them.

They got into the car just as Dinozzo's phone rang. He checked the caller ID before flipping it open. "Abby?"

A few seconds later, and he hung up. He raised an eyebrow at the closed cell phone, shook his head, and put it away. He glanced at the two watching him for an explanation. "Um…Abby says she doesn't have anything, but we're calling him Edward now. Or any abbreviation of that," he said, jerking a thumb at the person now named Edward.

"Uh…why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Because Abby has decided out of all the names she knows, you are an Edward. Actually, she said you'd also fit pretty well as an Ed. She said you'd probably hit me if I called you an Eddy, though."

"Damn right." Edward snapped. "Ed…that's right. It's Ed." He glanced up, and his face blanked. "Yeah. Ed."

"Well, we can tell Abby thanks for that, then. At least I'm not calling you sho-"

"Finish that word, and I'll take your head off," Ed grunted with a tick mark. "Are we going to sit in front of this person's house all day or what?"

Dinozzo rolled his eyes, and pulled away from the curb. "That was actually McGee calling. He was just relaying Abby's message. All of Kieter's friends are out of the country. Iraq, to be exact. Shipped out already."

"So, we're heading back to NCIS?" Ed asked, looking out the window.

"Yup. Unless Gibbs wants us to do something else." As if on cue, Dinozzo's phone rang again. A few seconds, and he flipped the phone shut again. "We're not going to NCIS."

"So…where are we going?" Ed asked before Ziva could.

"Chasing down one of the ex's," Dinozzo said. "She apparently doesn't want to talk to us. We're going to go to where she was last seen."

"Well we're not going to catch her with you driving," Ziva replied

"What does that mean?" Dinozzo asked as he turned a corner.

"What it means is that you cannot drive anywhere near as well as I can," she answered simply, "which we already knew."

"That's because I'm not Ninja Ziva," Dinozzo retorted. "Besides, your driving is not healthy for anyone's safety. And we've got a minor in the car I'd prefer not to get killed. Hell, _I_ don't want to die young."

"Dinozzo, I can always throw you out the window," Ziva said calmly.

Dinozzo replied, but Ed was no longer listening. The smirk that had come to his face had disappeared. Now he was frowning as he watched them go back and forth. Something was familiar about this type of light-hearted argument…

"Ed?" Ed blinked and looked up as heard Ziva say his name. From the way she was curiously watching him, and the way Dinozzo kept glancing back at him, he guessed that they had already said his name several times.

"Huh?"

"Did you remember something?"

"No…but your arguing, it was…familiar. From somewhere," Ed frowned, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Do you remember who was arguing? Was it serious?" Dinozzo asked, worried. If the arguments were serious…

Ed shook his head quickly. "I don't remember who was arguing. But the arguing wasn't serious. It was more like a way to pass time. More like the way you two argue rather than being a serious argument." Ed's frown deepened. "I hate this. This is _really_ annoying."

His voice had turned into a snarl, and the two NCIS agents exchanged a glance. When the kid turned angry, he was kind of scary. The two turned back around, not wanting to encourage the angry kid in the back.

* * *

a/n: First chapter, and I hope it wasn't crap.

Between Tsuki and I, we have no clue who came up with this idea. _{It was I, Tsuki} _So we're splitting the credit. _{Lies, lies all of that!} _Her version is an Alex Rider/NCIS crossover, at .net/s/6710047/1/Not_bAll_b_bThose_b_bWho_b_bWander_b_Are_Lost

It's got the same lost memory theme going on, except that's the only related theme, but we're still splitting the credit. _{Don't listen to her} _And yes, we're splitting the name too, because of the same idea. _{My idea} _Shut the **** up.

Please review! And I'll update soon!

(Speaking of updating, the only reason I was able to update so quickly in my HP/FMA was because we had no school that week, and we were at my grandmother's hiding out because of the storm. _{Stupid ice storms stealing our power lines *pout*}_ So even on weekends, I'm going to be at my parents', and I won't be able to update as fast. So, no three chapters in one day. Sorry! )


	2. Safety Last

Safety last

a/n: hello again! Now. To more personal issues. Some of you haven't seen Tsuki recently, and are probably feeling deprived of her idiocracy. That's not a word, by the way. Two very upsetting things have happened to her.

1) She has hit puberty at fifteen. _{I'M A BIG GIRL NOW!}_

2) We tried to hide it from her, but she figured out on her own that Santa isn't real._ {Lies! It's allllll LIES! Next thing I know, they'll be telling me the Easter Bunny is really my grandmother... wait a second...}_ Sigh. This has been a psceial update on my misspelling of words and Tsuki's immaturity. Thank you. _{I gotst the POWER!}_

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS. They are two of the best things ever to reach the TV and internet, and neither of them are by me, or owned by me. If I owned them, they wouldn't be some of the best.

* * *

"There!" Ziva shouted, lunging in front of Dinozzo, and swerving the wheel.

"Watch it!" Dinozzo yelped, falling sideways, and jumping out of Ziva's way. She unclipped her seatbelt, and his, and all but yanked him out of his chair.

"Switch with me now!" she yelled at him, and somehow managed to move the two from their spots and put them in each other's. "You can't drive when it comes to this!"

"Ow…" Ed groaned from the back, having flown across the backseat, and whacked his head on the opposite door. "I side with Dinozzo. Are you _trying_ to kill us?"

"Wear a seatbelt next time!" Ziva snapped without turning around. The car she was following turned sharply, and Ziva turned just in time.

Ed, still with no seatbelt, fell back across the seats, and ended up with his legs above him. Dinozzo was trying to stay upright, and had a hand on the side of Ziva's seat, and another one on the cup holder in between them. "Ziva! Cars aren't supposed to go on two wheels! I've told you that before!"

"It does not matter!" she said without looking at him, and the car slammed back onto all four wheels. Dinozzoe rectified his position, and Ed fell down. Dinozzo spared him a glance, and would've laughed at the sight of him on the floor, trying to get up, if he had not been trying to hold his stomach down. "I do not want to lose her!"

"I don't want to lost my _head_!" Ed complained from the back.

"Oh I'm with you there!" Dinozzo readily agreed. "Keep it down on the-this is what I'm talking about!" Dinozzo yelped as Ziva took another sharp turn.

Ed fell back onto the other side of the car, having just managed to get off the floor.

"Quit complaining!" She sped up, now that they were on the highway.

Ed struggled into a position that didn't include some physically impossible position, and reached for the seatbelt. He got a hold of it right before the car in front of them turned off the highway, and Ziva after it. The seatbelt flew from his grasp, and swung wildly, whacking Dinozzo.

"Ow! Hey, watch it back there!" Dinozzo said, turning his head. He quickly turned back around as Ziva slowed and then sped up suddenly.

"I'm trying!" Ed snapped. "Hey, stop!" he shouted as the car they were trailing turned accidentally into a dead end. Ziva slammed on the brakes, and stopped just short of the other car. She and Dinozzo climbed out of the car, gun at the ready. Ed heard, "Put your hands up!" and then continued his attempts at getting into a non-death defying spot.

* * *

Gibbs looked up as the elevator opened, and Ziva marched the ex in. Dinozzo and Ed walked in behind her, both looking a little green.

"Does she always drive like that?" he heard Ed say.

Dinozzo sighed. "Yeah. This is why we don't let her drive a lot. Hey, boss, we got her!"

"Well, I can see that, Dinozzo," Gibbs said, standing. "Interrogation room 3 is open. We're done with the first ex."

"Oh, this is the second one?" Ziva asked, glancing at the angry woman she was walking in. "Miss Layor, I take it?"

The woman gave an angry grunt, and Ziva walked her to the interrogation room. Gibbs watched them go with crossed arms. Dinozzo walked up behind him, and said calmly, "Don't worry boss. You still top him in exes."

Gibbs smacked him upside the head. "Go interrogate the suspect."

"Interrogating suspect, planning funeral for brain. On it, boss," Dinozzo said, walking off. Gibbs rolled his eyes, and motioned for Ed to follow him. They went into the room behind the mirror, and observed the two people in the room.

"So, you're Jayla Layor?" Dinozzo said, sitting down.

"Unless my name's changed," Layor snorted. Behind the mirror, Ziva joined Gibbs and Ed.

"Recognize her?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"Not in the slightest," Ed responded.

"Where were you on Thursday night, from seven to eight?" Dinozzo asked.

"At home. Alone."

"Anyone who can vouch for that?"

"Not a soul."

"How did you feel when he divorced you?"

"_He_ divorced _me_? Please. No, I divorced him. Damn bastard…He had an affair with me with his first ex! And stole money from me, claiming it was for something important."

"That's something the first ex forgot to mention," Ziva commented. Gibbs nodded. He knocked on the window, and Dinozzo turned and nodded.

"Okay, we'll be back to confirm or deny what you said," Dinozzo said, gathering his papers. He walked out the door, and closed it behind him. "Did you remember her?" He asked Ed as the other three joined up with him as they walked down the hallway to a different interrogation room.

"Nope," Gibbs said before Ed could, and put a hand on the doorknob. "Dinozzo, with me." He opened the door and walked inside with Dinozzo on his heels. Ziva and Ed went into the other room.

* * *

"You forgot to mention the affair, Miss Tole," Gibbs said, sitting down. "Care to elaborate?"

"You heard about that?" Tole squeaked. "From who? Oh it was that bitch, wasn't it? Little liar…"

"Is it true?" Gibbs pressed.

"Yeah, it's true. But why does it matter? I don't even know why I'm here!" She exclaimed, waving her arms around.

Gibbs put a hand in his folder, and took out a picture. He laid a photo of the dead naval officer in front of him. "Because your ex-husband is dead. What do you think about that?"

"He's dead?"

"Yup."

"Well, how?"

"Poison. You don't mind if we check your house for any traces of it, do you?"

"No, not all. Go ahead… it was that bitch, wasn't it? I don't suppose she mentioned that she was why I divorced him, did she? Because he had an affair with her while we were married!"

Gibbs sighed, and stood to once again go confirm or disprove an affair.

* * *

"Wow. Affairs with both exes at the same time as the other's marriage. Some guy," Dinozzo remarked a few minutes later. "And both confirmed it. Neither are happy with the victim, though."

"Why wouldn't they be? McGee, Dinozzo, ask around Layor's neighbors to see if she was really home that night. And Tole said she was also at home, so check out her neighbors as well while you're at it," Gibbs said.

"Do you want us to take Ed with us?" McGee asked. His phone rang, and after glancing at the caller ID and groaning, he dismissed the call.

Gibbs snatched the phone from him, and after a few seconds of flicking through it, turned quickly and said, "Ed." The blond turned to him, and Gibbs took a picture. He tossed the phone back to McGee. "I've got something I need him to do. Take that and show it to them instead."

McGee nodded, and he and Dinozzo left.

"What do you need me to do?" Ed asked, looking up at Gibbs. A fact which Ed really didn't like, since he _really_ had to look up. Not like it was because he was short or anything…

"This way," he said, and began to walk to Abby's lab.

Ziva looked up from her desk. "What do you want me to do?"

Gibbs didn't respond, and Ed glanced at her and gave a 'don't ask me' shrug. Ziva sighed.

* * *

"Hi again!" Abby said, cheerfully rushing over to Ed as he and Gibbs appeared in her lab, and hugging him. She backed off, and said, "Sorry, but you're non-existent! Like, you're existent, since I'm staring at you, but my computers say you're non-existent! And are you listening to me?" she asked, as she noticed that he was gaping at her lab. She turned to Gibbs. "I told you it was probably a bad idea to bring him down here."

"No, I'm listening…more or less…" Ed said, still looking around the lab.

"What are you two doing down here? I don't have anything for you," Abby said, cocking her head at Gibbs.

"Can you take care of him for now? Try and figure out something that can help you, alright?" Gibbs said.

"Sure! Okay! Where'd he go?" Abby said, turning to figure out where Ed had slipped off to. "Oh there you are." Ed was peering intently at her periodic table of the elements. She turned back to Gibbs. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope. Thanks, Abbs," he said, and walked off.

"So which name did you end up going by?" she asked Ed when Gibbs was gone.

"I think Edward might be my real name, but I think I went by Ed. It sounds right," Ed said, now walking around the room.

"Yeah, I thought so," Abby said. Her computer beeped, and she hurried over to it. "Edward seemed a bit too formal…agh! No, he exists!" She gave another groan, and Ed wandered over. "You're still not coming up. Sometimes we see people disappear when they go into witness protection. So I contacted Fornell, because he and Gibbs know each other, and I asked him if there was anyone around the world who would have DNA like yours, and he talked to some people, he knew, and they talked to some people they knew, but anyway, when he finally came back to me, he said the FBI was curious about your predicament, and now the whole FBI knows apparently because the forensics people over there were really curious, and all of them over there agreed with me that your DNA shouldn't exist. Not just because you're not coming up, because that happens to people all the time, most people don't even have their DNA on file, and if you were from a poorer country, there'd be almost no way to trace you, but some of the combinations in your DNA shouldn't be there and crap I need to tell this to Gibbs." She started hurrying to the door, and then turned back to Ed, and said, "Sit, stay, don't move, don't touch anything." Then she turned back around and left for the elevator.

"Am I dog or something?" Ed muttered to himself, still looking around the room. He caught a glance of some people walking past, and saw some other people coming across the street with 'FBI' on their jackets. "...Well that's either really good, or really bad."

* * *

"You told them about Ed?" Gibbs said more than asked, walking past Abby.

"Yeah, sorry Gibbs, I know I should've realized they'd be this interested, I mean, this is the FBI and all, but I thought they'd be able to help-"

"It's okay, Abbs, you did what you needed to. Where is he now?" Gibbs asked. "In your lab?"

"Yeah, I told him to stay there while I came up and told you this… Uh oh," she said, as the elevator doors opened, and FBI agents walked in.

"Abbs, go down into your lab, and tell Ed to hide. I don't care if you stick him in the morgue. He's part of our case, and he's our lead," he said, shooing her off.

"Right, Rule 38*." Abby hurried off, while Gibbs walked up to the agents to distract.

* * *

"Ed? Hey, Ed? Where'd you go? The FBI are here, and Gibbs told me to hide you…" Abby whispered as she walked into her lab.

The door to her lab opened, and the Fornell walked in. "Hi Abby. Nice to see you again. Where's the boy you called in about?"

"I'm sorry, I really don't know where he is," Abby said, looking around her lab.

"He's a lead on your case, isn't he?" Fornell sighed. "One of Gibbs's rules."

"Well, to be honest, we _were_ planning to hide him, but now he really is missing. I left him down here to tell Gibbs, but now I can't find him," Abby said, continuing her search.

Fornell sighed. "We'll keep looking for him around here. After 24 hours, we'll move on and assume he's out of the building." He paused. "Alright, I know if he comes back here, Agent Gibbs won't tell me until the case is over. But once it is, I better hear about it." He turned and walked out of the building.

The 24 hours passed. NCIS got new leads on their case, somehow, what with the FBI peering over their shoulder, and brought several people in for questioning.

But no one found Ed. Because after all…who would look on the ceiling for him?

* * *

Abby sighed, peering through all the cameras again. Now that the FBI were gone, she could look through them without worrying that they would actually find him. "Ed, Ed, where'd you go…?" she said quietly to herself.

"Here," a voice said above her, and Abby turned as Ed dropped down beside her.

"Ed! Where were you, wait, let me call Gibbs-"

"Here, Abby," Gibbs said, walking in. "You found him?"

"Psh," Ed snorted. "I was here the whole time. They didn't think to look on the ceiling."

"You were up there this whole time?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I went to sleep in the ventilation system once they swept through there. After that, I was hiding out on top of the cabinets." Ed shrugged. "So, it's looking like the friend did it out of jealousy?" he asked.

"Yeah. Found traces of the gas in his garage. Although you probably already knew that."

"Yup. Good luck catching him," Ed said, leaning against the counter. A thought flashed across his mind.

Gibbs caught the flicker of emotion. "What is it? Did you remember something?"

"No, more like I realized something." Ed scowled. "I'm not related to your case, especially once it's closed, and the FBI's interested in me. I'm going to have to go with them, aren't I? I won't be able to stay here."

"We still don't know if you know anyone related to the case. McGee and Dinozzo asked around, but they could've lied. The FBI will want you to go with them, either way. Do you want to stay here?" Gibbs asked, curious, even though he didn't let it show.

"Well, this is the first place, after a crime scene, I remember, and you're the first people I remember, so… I guess I feel more connected to this place and you all than anywhere else or anyone else." Ed scowled. "But laws are laws."

Gibbs sighed. "Well, it's not really a law, other than chain of command… If you were older than eighteen, I could probably ask Director Vance if you could hang around until you remembered something, but if the FBI don't find anything, you'll probably go into witness protection or an orphanage."

"Oh hell," Ed muttered. "An orphanage? That won't end well…"

"Well, think of it this way," Abby said. "You've got until the end of the case, at least."

"We're going to arrest the suspect now. Want to come?" Gibbs asked, redirecting the topic.

"Huh? Oh sure," Ed said. With a wave to Abby, the two guys walked to the elevator and rode it up. When the doors opened, Gibbs gave a quiet sigh as he realized that Vance was in his office area, waiting for him.

"I see you found him," Vance commented. "Or just got him back from where you hid him."

"I was hiding out on my own," Ed interjected.

Vance glanced at him, and then back to Gibbs. "The FBI is at my throat about this, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that," Gibbs said offhandedly. "Hey, team, let's go make the arrest. Grab your gear." He said grabbing his backpack from beside where Vance was sitting.

The other five followed him, and Gibbs glanced at Vance. "What? You're coming too?"

"I'd like to meet the li-michief maker." He quickly cut out the 'little' before he said it, remembering what Dinozzo had said to him seconds earlier. "The FBI will be here after the arrest, so… Why is he going on an arrest anyway, Agent Gibbs?"

"In case he remembers Daniels.**" Gibbs said. With a glance at Ed's expression, he clarified that it was the friend.

The doors to the elevator opened, and all of them stepped inside.

* * *

"So, you don't remember anything?" Vance asked.

Ed snorted. "Really? I didn't know."

Vance raised an eyebrow at the comment, and was about to question further when Dinozzo got off the phone call he'd been on. He spun the wheel quickly, and stepped on the gas. Vance looked up at him. "Agent Dinozzo, what are you doing?"

"We're about to arrest the wrong person. Apparently, someone who had been burglarizing the first ex's house came across the same poison that killed our officer. And tons of it. Abby just came across the files of it," Dinozzo quickly said.

"And why didn't you wait to tell someone and get that clarification before you made that decision to go after this person?" Vance asked. "And why aren't you calling Gibbs?"

"Because you asked me so I explained to you first. And I'm sure Agent McGee is calling Gibbs right now," Dinozzo said, with a glance at the person beside him. McGee nodded, and flipped open his phone. "And because Tole just purchased a plane ticket, and is driving to the airport right now."

They pulled into the airport, and Dinozzo skidded to a stop. The three NCIS people jumped out of the car, and Vance turned to Ed as he began to get out. "No, you stay here. _Stay,_" he added, as Ed started to protest. Scowling, Ed slipped back in.

The three left. Ed waited a few minutes, and heard several gunshots. Sitting up, he saw people start to run from the airport. Another minute passed, and then Ed rolled his eyes, and opened the car door.

The three split up after a command from Vance. He felt something prick his neck, and he irritably rubbed it away. Probably just a mosquito that got into the airport…

Scanning the ground, he spotted the ex running away from him. He took up chase, and saw that McGee and Dinozzo had seen them and were also following the crowd began to part, but not fast enough.

He heard a few gunshots as he saw Dinozzo shoot the ground.

The crowd vanished.

He mentally made a note to himself to talk to Dinozzo about unnecessary actions. The ex dodged around a corner, and Vance was the first to turn after her. She threw open a door into the stairwell, and Vance burst into it after her. He came to a halt, looking between the railings to see if she'd gone up or down.

Either way she'd gone, she'd stopped running.

He slammed a fist against the stairwell in irritation, just before he heard a yelp, and saw her fly over the railing two above him and land in the one beside it, and Ed fly after her in a ninja-kick. Vance bolted up the stairs, and stopped when he saw the ex groaning on the floor, and Ed crouched above them on the stairs

"I got bored," he explained simply, and stood. Ed walked calmly back down the stairs. He glanced at Vance, who was staring at the floor, frowning. Ed followed his gaze. It was a needle. He looked back up to Vance, who was rubbing his neck. "Don't tell me she…"

"We won't know, will we? You knocked her out," Vance said, taking out a pair of hand cuffs.

"If she injected you with the same poison-"

"You'll be dead in minutes," Dinozzo, who had walked into the stairwell with McGee, said. "The hospital isn't close enough to get you there in time."

Vance shrugged it off. He pulled up the limp body of Tole. "Get her to the car," he said wearily. "Come back for me once you're done."

"Director-" McGee began.

"Go," Vance barked, and the two left, carrying Tole between them. Sighing, Vance sat down on the stairwell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ed frowning thoughtfully. "Remember something?" he asked.

"…Sort of." He turned to Vance, and squatted before him. "I'm going to try and save your life."

* * *

*I looked up all the rules. Rule 38 is 'Your case, your lead'.

** For those of you who have read my sister's this is a lot funnier than those of you who haven't. For those of you who haven't, Alex's comrade's name is Ben Daniels. (he's also sometimes known as Fox)

This is a case I made up off the top of my head. I hope it flows together. Sorry I couldn't put Ed in the middle of the case, but he was busy hanging out in the ventilation system and on top of Abby's cabinets. _{And Tsuki was busy eating candies and celebrating my recent ascension into puberty} {I should go eat more cookies now...} {Moo.}_

By the way. The whole puberty thing is a lot funnier if you know that she hit it when she was nine. She's not nine now.

Hope you liked it! Review, please! And if you flame me, I'll flame you right back! _{And if you send me some cookies...well there are no refunds. Except on flames. You can have those right back.} {Then I'll come to your house and roast marshmallows over yo head}_


	3. Jurisdiction Wars

Jurisdiction Wars

a/n: cliffhangers! Sorry, I don't tend to do those, but that chapter was getting too long. By the way, I don't mean to base this crime off of an NCIS crime, or any other crime shows. So if I am, it's coincidental. (Rule #39: There are no coincidences.) _{Gibbs knows all...and so do I.} {*sparkles*}_ She's a vampire! Stake her! _{And bring marshmallows!}_

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS. Although I think I own my mind, or who does? _{Me}_ So try and take this as your own, I dare you, because then I will come and smack you down. So mwhahaha. _{Oh she will. And she will do it violently and all over the place. Just saying}_

* * *

"You're going to save my life?" Vance said doubtfully.

"Water; 35 liters, carbon; 20 kilograms, ammonia; 4 liters, lime; 1.5 kilograms, phosphorous; 800 grams, salt; 250 grams, saltpeter; 100 grams, sulfur; 80 grams, fluorine; 7.5 grams, iron; 5 grams, silicon; 3 grams, and fifteen other trace elements in smaller quantities," Ed said from memory. "I can diffuse the poison into all of those in a way that it won't kill you."

Vance stared at him. "How?"

"…I don't know." Ed's voice had dropped to a whisper. He looked up at Vance. "Besides, it's not like I can make it worse, can I?"

* * *

"Do you think he's dead by now?" McGee said quietly to Dinozzo. They had stopped, and were waiting by the steps since Gibbs's car had just pulled up.

"I don't know." Dinozzo nodded at Gibbs as he walked out of his car.

"What are you two doing?" Gibbs snapped at them. "Are you just going to stand there all day?"

"Um, boss? Tole is in the car, but…" Dinozzo said, motioning to where their car was parked, and the unconscious person in it.

"What, Dinozzo?" Gibbs asked, walking up to him.

"Director Vance was injected with the poison before we could catch her. And she was knocked out before we could figure out if she had the antidote on her," Dinozzo said, looking Gibbs in the eye.

Gibbs stared at him for a few seconds, and then reached around and gave him a famous Gibbs slap. "Are you sure, Dinozzo?" he asked, and nodded past him.

Dinozzo and McGee turned around, and saw Ed and Vance walk out of the airport.

"Director Vance!" McGee called. He glanced at Ed, who had a triumphant smirk on his face. "What happened?"

"Apparently Ed has a few tricks up his sleeve," Vance said. He nodded his head at Gibbs. "Agent Gibbs. Nice of you to join us."

"I think we hit every single red light we could on the way," Gibbs said irritably. "We would have gotten here earlier if we hadn't."

"Let's get her into an interrogation room. And add some new charges, will you?" Vance said. He looked up at the sound of cars screeching to a stop. "It appears the FBI have something to say, doesn't it?"

An agent they didn't know marched up to them. "I am here to take a child by the name of Ed into custody." He glanced at Ed. "Are you him?" Ed glared, but didn't respond otherwise.

"Yes, he is," Vance said, and an agent gently reached out, and laid an arm around Ed's shoulders, nudging him toward their cars. Ed shrugged her off, and walked by himself. "Ed, we'll see you later," Vance called.

Ed glanced over his shoulder at the NCIS team, and his gaze flickered to the first man who had spoken as he said, "Don't count on it. We'll be keeping him for as long as we need to." He paused, and then asked, "Why was he present at an arrest?"

"He was found at the murder sight of a naval officer. We originally thought that his friend did it, before Agent Dinozzo learned differently and redirected us to the airport, where Miss Tole was trying to get away on a plane. Ed happened to be with us, since we wanted to see if he recognized Mr. Daniels," Vance explained.

Several more cars pulled into the parking lot, and more people got out. Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, and rested his elbow in his arm. Ziva and Dinozzo started whispering excitedly, something about who was going to win this, and McGee glanced between the three sides. Vance looked up at the sky and sighed, shaking his head. Ed raised an eyebrow at the new wave of people.

"Lynch*," The first man said, nodding.

"Okerby," Lynch replied. "What are you doing here?"

"This is our person of interest, not yours," Okerby said stiffly.

"Really? He's not American," Lynch said smoothly. "We work outside the country, you work inside. Since he's not American, he's ours."

"Really? Try this on for a size, Lynch. He was found on American soil, and our forensics inform me that he's not from anywhere around the world," Okerby snapped back.

"If he's not from around the world, he's not from the U.S.," Lynch replied. "Which makes him ours." Lynch turned his head. "Where are you going?" he asked, fixing Ed with a stare.

Ed shrugged. He'd closed the car door, and was standing by the NCIS agents. "I'm staying here until you guys figure this out. It's actually kind of funny. If you both weren't guys, I'd say you were a bickering couple."

The two stared at him, and he snickered. Dinozzo bit the inside of his cheek to hold his own laughter in. McGee rolled his eyes, and Ziva joined Vance in looking at the sky for an answer as to why she had to be one of the people there. Gibbs and Vance hadn't moved from their positions.

Lynch and Okerby turned back to each other, and continued arguing.

Ten minutes passed.

Thirty minutes passed.

An hour passed.

"Are we going to be here much longer?" Ed groaned, leaning against one of the NCIS cars. Dinozzo who was standing beside him, just sighed.

"These two groups will be at each other's heads when it comes to who's in charge of what until the end of time," Ziva explained. "They are like you said, a bickering pair."

"Erm, Ziva? That's 'at each other's _throats_', and a 'bickering _couple_'," Dinozzo corrected. A banging on the window behind him made him move out of the way. The four, including McGee, who was also standing with them, looked inside the window to see Tole glaring at them all, and motioning for them to open the door. Dinozzo opened it. "What?"

"What's going on? What's with the FBI and CIA?" she asked.

"Something different then your case," Ziva said, and prepared to close the door again. Tole stopped her.

"It's because of him, isn't it?" she said motioning with her head at Ed. "The ass kicked me over a railing and down a flight of stairs!"

Ziva glanced at Ed, who nodded. Vance, who had walked up to them because he had grown bored of the argument after the first half hour, nodded as well. "That was one kick from what I saw. And I was two flights of stairs below you both when he did it."

"Well, when the two figure out their debate, we'll be sure to tell them that. Thank you," Dinozzo said, and closed the door on a protesting Tole.

**Six hours later**

"Okay, this is just getting a bit ridiculous," Ziva commented. The CIA and FBI were still arguing.

"No kidding," Dinozzo remarked. "Figure this is what they were like in the alien business?"

"Alien business?" Ed raised an eyebrow.

"He is joking, Ed," Ziva said, with a glare at Dinozzo, who smirked.

"If we leave now, do you think they'll even miss us?" McGee sighed.

"At this rate, you never know," Gibbs said, now also leaning against the car. Ed was sitting on top of the car, McGee was in the passenger's seat, Gibbs was leaning against the hood, Dinozzo was sitting with his feet resting against the bumper of the trunk. Ziva was resting on the hood, and Vance was leaning against the trunk.

"Who votes on going back to NCIS and waiting for a call?" Dinozzo asked. When Gibbs didn't smack him upside the head, and instead raised his hands, so did the others.

"Wait, damn, they might actually be getting somewhere. Looks like the FBI's about to take it," Vance said, lowering his hand, and the others paused.

The CIA agent said something, and the argument ensued.

"Oh the hell with this," Vance snapped, and got into the driver seat. The other NCIS agents slipped into theirs, and drove off.

* * *

"Ed! You're staying?" Abby asked, running up to the group as they came in.

"Nope. Sorry, Abbs. We just gave up on the CIA and FBI, and we're waiting for them to figure it out for themselves," Gibbs said, dropping backpack beside his desk.

"My legs feel like rubber…oh heavenly chair, will you please accept me?" Dinozzo asked, also dropping his backpack beside his desk, and falling into his chair. Or trying to, missing, and falling onto the floor. The chair tipped over and fell on top of him.

"Your chair says no," Ziva said after she stopped laughing. Dinozzo grumbled, righted his chair, and got into it. McGee shook his head in amusement, and started typing on his computer.

"Hey, Probie, something to say?" Dinozzo asked irritably.

"No, not really. And why do you always call me that, when I'm not a Probie?" McGee asked, turning to face Dinozzo.

"Because it amuses me."

"Oh, be nice to him, Tony," Abby said, giving Dinozzo a look.

"Yeah, Dinozzo. Be nice to McGee," Gibbs said from his desk. Dinozzo sighed, and McGee smirked. Ziva smiled. Vance was already gone.

Ed took his previous seat, and went to sleep.

* * *

A few hours later, and Lynch and Okerby came out of the elevators, looking ticked.

"So you decide to join us," Gibbs said without looking up.

"And you couldn't wait, why?" Okerby demanded.

"I don't know if you noticed, but the two of you were arguing for nine hours. We weren't waiting that long in a parking lot, so we came here to wait it out." Gibbs looked up then. "What'd you decide?"

"None of your business, Agent Gibbs," Okerby snapped. Gibbs glanced between him and Lynch, and noticed that neither looked happy.

"Don't tell me you actually _agreed_ on something," Dinozzo said, catching the two's attention.

"That'd be a new one if they did," Ziva muttered.

"I'd like to know where I'm sending a minor to, especially if I want to send some information to you that we might have found," Gibbs said, staring both agents down.

"We compromised. We're both going to be interrogating him," Lynch said. He glanced over to where the quietly snoring blond was. "We'll be going now."

"Hm. So you don't want to know what happened in the stairwell," Vance said, appearing behind both of them. They turned to face him. "I don't know what he did, and he doesn't know himself, but he saved my life from a poison I was injected with _without_ using medical tools. Not to mention he flying-kicked Miss Tole over a railing and down a flight of stairs."

The CIA and FBI agents stared at him. Vance walked over to McGee, and told him to pull up video surveillance of the airport staircase at the time right before the arrest. McGee pulled it up, and they saw what had happened.

"That's definitely something to keep in mind…" Lynch muttered. "When we write down what we know, add 'ninja', will you?"

Okerby glared at him, before turning back to Vance and Gibbs, who had joined them behind McGee's computer. He walked around from the crowded space, and walked to where Ed was sleeping. He shook his shoulder gently.

Ed didn't wake.

"Hey, Ed," he said, and shook his shoulder harder.

"Step back a second," Dinozzo said, looking up with a devilish expression. Okerby glanced at him, scowled, but stepped back. Dinozzo smirked, crumpled up a ball of paper, aimed, and threw it at Ed's head. "Hey, pipsqueak! Wake up, or you'll become even shorter!"

Ed shot up. "Who the hell are you calling so short he can only be seen through a microscope you twit?" Ed shouted. Dinozzo laughed, and Okerby took another step back.

"Hey, cool it, just trying to wake you up," Dinozzo said, still chuckling.

Ed grumbled, and glanced at Okerby and Lynch. "You figured something out? Well _finally_."

"Here, this way…" Okerby said, nudging Ed toward the elevator. The three stepped in when the elevator door opened. The arrogant smirk on Ed's face faded, and the NCIS agents helplessly watched the doors closed.

* * *

"So, you think you're first name is Edward?" Lynch asked.

"Yeah."

"And your DNA says that your hair and eye color are both natural?" Okerby put in.

"Yeah. Why the hell is everyone dwelling on that…?"

"You know how to fight?" Okerby said.

"Well, it would appear so."

"What did you do in the stairwell to get the poison out of Director Vance?" Lynch asked. A medical expert from the CIA they had called in began taking notes at that part.

"I dispersed the poison into its basic elements, and turned it into the body's basic elements without it being a lethal amount. Don't ask how, I just did."

Lynch and Okerby turned to the medical expert, who nodded at them and stepped forward. "Um, do you know what you did was called?"

"No."

"Can you explain how you did it?"

"This array came into mind, and I clapped, put both hands on either side of his hand, and split the poison what it was made of, and put that into his elements without killing him."

The medical expert stared at him halfway through her notes. "You do realize that's impossible, right?"

"Then explain why Director Vance is alive, and what you saw on McGee's computer," Ed said simply.

"You were asleep," Okerby said, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Was I?" Ed smirked, and put his arms behind his head.

Okerby glared at him, but Lynch laughed. He waved the medical expert off, and stood. "Okay, we're going to go look at what you said, and then we'll be back, alright?" He paused, then snatched a paper from the medical expert, who protested. "Wait. Could you draw that array?"

Ed shook his head. "I don't remember it. I don't think I can do it again if I try either." Lynch sighed, and gave the paper back to the medical expert, who scowled at him.

"Well, see you later," Lynch said with a cheerful wave, and left.

* * *

*This is an A-Team (2010. Sorry for you people who liked the older series better) pun.

The chemical listing of a human body I got from the first Fullmetal Alchemist book. So if that's accurate, I'm accurate, if it's not, I'm not. _{And if she's a moose, well you don't wanna know about that}_

By the way, Okerby and Lynch are OCs. I couldn't keep Fornell in for the FBI, because he works in a different part than what they would be putting Ed in.

Don't worry. I know this is an NCIS/FMA crossover, which means I have to put NCIS in. _{Well I'd hope so_} They'll be back soon enough. And Gibbs and co. will probably be pissed off at Lynch and Okerby, because this is them. _{And them is this.} {Wait, what?}_ The hell? _{The moose?} _


	4. Scars of Both Kind

Scars of Both Kinds

a/n: Shit, school started back up again after the ice storm we had. Damn… _{And we were having so much fun running around naked in the snow. *sigh} _...yeah, don't pay any attention to the crazies behind the curtains. They'll feed you lies. ALL OF THEM ARE LIES! _{So you think...} {*evil laughter ensues for a loooooooong time*}_

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS. That I'm aware of… _{That's because I'm the sole owner of all awesome shows/manga/books. Muahahaha.}_

* * *

A month passed. On all three sides of things, it passed pretty boringly. The NCIS team didn't hear anything, mostly because the FBI and CIA didn't learn anything, and Ed didn't remember anything. Of course, things don't last forever.

Especially things like Gibbs's patience.

"What have you got?" Gibbs demanded the second he stormed into the conference room where Lynch and Okerby were conferring quietly. The two jumped, and looked up at him, more than a little surprised. "You don't have a damn thing, do you?"

"Agent Gibbs! Uh, what are you doing here?" Lynch asked, more than a little curious about the agent's unexpected arrival.

"I'm here to pick up the kid. What else?" Gibbs said like it was obvious.

The other two exchanged glances. Well…okay then… Neither had seen that coming, although anyone who knew Gibbs did.

"Agent Gibbs, if you could just wait a while longer, I assure you, we'll be releasing him soon," Okerby said, looking Gibbs in the eye.

"Then at least tell me what you have," Gibbs said, cornering Lynch and Okerby in a verbal loop.

Lynch coughed. "About that." Gibbs glared at him. "We haven't exactly been able to figure anything out about him… Sorry." Gibbs narrowed his eyes at him. Lynch looked up at Gibbs, and Okerby could tell he was about to say something that would make him want to kill the CIA agent. "You know what? You learned more stuff out of him in the short time he was with you then the time he was with us. As long as you report to us anything you find, I think both sides will be satisfied."

Yup, Okerby was pretty sure he was going to kill him.

Gibbs nodded. He suppressed a smirk at the death glare Okerby was sending him, and asked, "Where is he?"

"Two doors down, killing our agents," Lynch said cheerfully. At Gibbs's raised eyebrow he said, "Well, something like that. They say they're training, but he's been sending a lot of them to the doctors we have here, so I'm not really that sure anymore."

Gibbs sighed, rolled his eyes, and left the room. Two doors down, he opened the door to a room where he saw bodies flying. He saw the last CIA agent go down with his arm twisted behind his back that now had a knee in it. Ed was standing over him. The rest of the agents were lying here and there.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. Ziva might have found someone she could spar with after all.

"Hey, Ed," he called. Ed turned hopefully, saw Gibbs, and grinned. "They're releasing you since they can't get squat. Coming?"

"Hell yeah!" Ed jumped off the CIA agent, who flopped his arm down on the map and groaned. Ed stayed in the room long enough to say in a false cheerful tone, "I hope you can all move in the morning!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, and closed the door behind the teen.

* * *

The elevator doors opened, and Ed grinned as the three NCIS agents in the bullpen looked up and saw him. Ziva waved, and Dinozzo made a short comment, which Gibbs cut him off from after seeing the CIA and FBI agents sprawled on the floor. McGee just smiled.

"Who wants to tell Abby? And probably get trampled in the process?" Dinozzo remarked.

"You brought it up, you go tell her," Ziva said. "Or we can throw Ed down there and hope she doesn't smother him."

"They released you?" McGee asked, the only one able to stay on topic without breaking out into an argument.

"Okerby was pissed, but Lynch seems to exist to annoy him. He was fine with it, since they weren't getting squat," Ed said, finding his regular chair and sitting in it. "Ziva and Dinozzo haven't killed each other yet?"

"Somehow." Ziva rolled her eyes as Dinozzo threw up his hands in defeat. She picked up a paperclip and waved it at Dinozzo. "But that paperclip offer still stands, you know."

"No thank you. Being degutted by paperclip is not on my list of things to do," Dinozzo replied.

"Welcome back, Ed. Gibbs, I hope the FBI and CIA aren't too ticked off, are they?" Vance said, walking down the stairs.

"Only mildly. And it's mostly the FBI," Gibbs said without turning.

Vance sighed just as Gibbs's phone rang. He picked it up, and put it back down a few seconds later. "Dead marine. Let's go." He glanced over at Ed. "Do you want to get trampled by Abby now or later?"

"Uh, I think I'll just go ahead and get it over with," Ed sighed, and walked toward the back elevator.

"See you when we get back!" McGee said cheerfully, and Ed waved at him.

* * *

Roughly ten seconds later, and Ed walked into Abby's lab, and nearly took out both eardrums at the same time. He plugged his ears, and walked up behind Abby. He looked over her shoulder for a few seconds, knowing his voice wasn't that loud, or at least not enough to be heard over the music, and waited for her to notice him.

She turned. "Oh, Ed!" She said. She flicked the stereo off, and hugged him. "You're back! Who did Gibbs irritate this time?"

"Only the FBI." Ed shrugged. "How many murders have you solved since I've been gone?"

"Every one that comes up," Abby said, motioning back to her computer. "Although that's nothing new… Did they learn anything?"

"Nothing. Really ticked them off, I'll tell you that… Well, they did learn that they might need to retrain some of their agents when it comes to fighting. I mean, really, when a fifteen year old takes out their best agents, you know there's a problem there."

"Wow. I think I'd like to meet your teacher,*" Abby said.

Something in Ed's mind told him that probably wasn't a good idea. "Yeah… I'll let you know if I remember her name, okay?"

Abby smiled. "So, did they get a new murder recently?"

"Yup. They just left when I came down here."

"You haven't met Ducky or Palmer, have you?" Abby suddenly realized. "Well, except when you fell on McGee, but that was only for a few seconds. When they get back, I'll have to point the three of you out."

* * *

"Hey, Abbs, evidence," Gibbs said, dropping off the evidence bags. "And we have something interesting for you to check out. We're not entirely sure what it is."

Abby looked like someone who'd just received Christmas presents. "Something for me to investigate? Thank you Gibbs!"

"Yup. Hey, Ed, Ziva's going to have some free time, and she wants to me to ask you that when she gets back, if you want to spar with her," Gibbs said.

"Uh, sure… But, you did warn her about the FBI and CIA agents, right?" Ed reminded.

"Yup. That's the only reason she's asking. She takes out our own agents when she's sparring with them way too fast," Gibbs replied. "Okay, we're going to be wheeling it down soon."

A few minutes later, and they were unloading a massive crate-like thing into Abby's lab. Gibbs and Ed left her to happily investigate it. "So, who's it appearing to be so far?" Ed asked.

"Fiancée has no reason…other than the millions of dollars she'd inherit…" Gibbs said with a hint of sarcasm. "A few guys in his unit are a bit irritated at him for a prank he pulled."

"Huh. Fun guy…" Ed muttered sarcastically.

Five minutes later, and Gibbs's phone rang. "Abby says she thinks she might have figured it out, but she needs someone to go help her," he said. There was a brief pause, and then everyone in the bullpen but Gibbs pointed at Ed, remembering bad experiences here and there.

Ed shrugged, but had a bad feeling about this. He found himself in Abby's lab a few seconds later. She was holding a pin, and poking the crate. She turned to Ed and handed him the pin. "Okay, I think this might actually be our murder weapon, in a sense. It's this giant magnet, except it works both ways. It's also really strong from what I can tell. I think our murderer put the bullet in front of it, and then activated it when he wasn't there. But I need someone to hold the pin while I test this."

Suddenly, Ed's bad feeling made sense. "Uh…" He hadn't remembered them when he'd first met the NCIS team, but metal limbs were a bit hard to miss… That had been hell on the metal detectors at the FBI. It was the only thing they'd learned after the first day. "Abby, maybe this isn't such a good idea…"

"Oh, it'll be fine. True, we all have hints of metal in us, but it's not strong enough to affect you. Now, stand there, hold the pin in front of you, and stand to the side of it or you'll be impaled." Abby directed.

Ed had a _really_ bad feeling about this…

* * *

Gibbs walked out of the elevator, and was about to turn the corner into Abby's lab when he saw Ed fly past him. 'Fly' as in 'through the air', and not running really fast. The wall he slammed into fell down.

He heard Abby's voice say, "Uh, whoops?"

Gibbs peeked around the corner, and jerked a thumb at the fallen wall. "What the hell was that?"

"A magnet that might have been stronger than I thought it was," Abby said, running toward Ed. "Hey, Ed? Are you okay?"

Ed sat up. "I'll live. Just going to have a few bruises. Well, maybe a lot, but that doesn't matter.**"

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Do you want Ducky to check you out?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Um, here's your pin," Ed said, standing, and handing Abby back the pin. She blinked, and then took it. "Now I think I see why everyone in the bullpen was eager to volunteer me for this…"

Abby frowned. "They volunteered you? I thought they had fun with my last tests. I'm going to talk to them about that…"

"So, what's with the magnet?" Gibbs asked. "Could it have shot something that killed him without us being able to see it?"

"Like a poisoned pin or something," Abby said, and began talking to him and showing him the way the bullet would have been shot. Ed went back up to the bullpen, rubbing his shoulder. He was greeted with, "Are you up to a sparring match?" by Ziva.

He suppressed a groan. True, he felt like he'd probably crashed through walls before, but that didn't exactly make it a picnic, now did it? Of course, there was no way he was backing out once he'd already said he was going to. "Uh, okay."

Dinozzo and McGee looked up, and exchanged grins. The kid who'd taken out all the agents who'd had the guts to go up against him at the FBI and CIA, against a trained Mossad agent. Yeah, that was going to be interesting…

* * *

"So that's how he committed the murder," Abby explained. "He'll probably have an alibi, though. He wouldn't have needed to be there, and he probably left this by chance."

"Thanks Abbs," Gibbs said, and started to leave.

"Wait…" Abby suddenly said, looking at the magnet. "It shouldn't have done that. Ed shouldn't have flown that far. But even if he'd had metal on him, he shouldn't have gone that far. None of the other metals in the way responded that drastically." She looked up at Gibbs. "Go ask him about that."

Gibbs nodded, and left.

* * *

Ed blocked her with a right kick, and dodged backward. Ziva figured she shouldn't say it out loud, or he'd break up the fight to yell about it, but was the kid a monkey or something? She could see McGee and Dinozzo ditching work in favor of watching the two fight. There must've been something wrong with them. Although Dinozzo probably enjoyed watching a fifteen year old at par with Ziva. Revenge for all his own losses. Which was, to say, a lot.

She ducked under a left hook, and jabbed out one of her own. She began to notice he was only trying to use his left arm and right leg. Was there something wrong with the other two, or was he just not as good with them? She figured she'd ask later.

She saw out of the corner of her eye Gibbs open the door and walk inside. He looked irritated for whatever reason, and said something to McGee and Dinozzo. She was pretty sure she caught the word 'wall' in there.

Suddenly, Ed cried out and fell down. Surprised, Ziva paused, and then crouched by him in confusion. "Ed? Hey, Ed? Are you okay? I didn't hit you…" She waved a hand in front of his face. He was staring, wide eyed, at the floor. Both hands were tightly clenching his shoulder.

Gibbs, Dinozzo, and McGee ran up to them.

"What happened?" Gibbs demanded.

"I don't know! I didn't hit him," Ziva said, again waving her hand in front of Ed's face.

"Check his shoulder," Dinozzo said suddenly. "He reacted for a reason, and he's holding that spot. What's there?" Ziva glanced up at him, and then gently tried to pry Ed's fingers away from his shoulder. She muttered something that probably wasn't good language, and tugged harder. His fingers gave away a little.

Looking in from behind, McGee peered below the shadow of his fingers. He moved the shirt away, and shone a pen light into it. "Oh, well. Uh, yeah, there's a reason for that. Whatever happened there, that's pretty deep. Hey, boss, look at that. You don't suppose that could have caused his memory loss, could it?"

Gibbs nudged him away, and took his spot. "No, it couldn't have. It's scarred over. Whatever happened there happened a while back. Before we found him." He looked up at his anxious team. "Let's get him down to Ducky."

* * *

"What happened here?" Ducky asked, hurrying toward the group as they carried in Ed.

"Don't know," Gibbs said as Ducky cleared off an autopsy table and motioned for them to put Ed on it. "He's scarred on his shoulder, and I want to know from what. We'd ask him if he would listen to us."

Ducky nodded, taking a scalpel to the shirt. As he began scraping it away, the others suppressed gasps. That scar wasn't the only one. They were all over.

"Well. I believe I found your source of amnesia," Ducky said, and looked up at the NCIS team. "Take your pick. There's enough choices." He looked back down, and continued prying away the shirt. He frowned as he realized it was sticking in some spots. "Is it me, or he was wearing the same shirt from when he dropped onto Timothy?"

The others glanced at the remains of the shirt. Something about it had looked odd, and now they realized why. It was the same color, only it looked like it'd been stained…

"He was injured when he came to us," Ducky said bitterly. "Only he didn't mention it, and none of us noticed." He peeled away the last of the shirt.

* * *

Ed blinked. What the hell was _that_? A freaking shadow had just cut him! What the hell? Since when were shadows _sharp_?

He looked up, and saw the anxious NCIS team staring at him, open-mouthed. He was in the autopsy room, and Palmer and Ducky were also staring at him. Abby ran in through the elevator doors when they opened. No one turned to acknowledge her.

"Someone upstairs told me you brought him down here," Abby said as she ran up to the table. "Um…"

Ed glanced down, and saw the remains of his shirt next to him. He'd refused to switch clothes, to the curiosity of the Lynch and Okerby. He washed his clothes out, obviously, but if he returned shirts to them with bloodstains on them, well, have fun explaining.

He looked back up at them. Ducky was frowning. He walked away, and grabbed something from a cabinet. Ed recognized it as gauze as he came closer. He began wrapping it, and Ed attempted to shrug him off. "No, its fine, it's healing on its own-"

"My dear boy." Ducky interrupted with a look. "The next time you are injured, take into consideration that the wound can get infected. You were lucky with this stomach wound, even if it isn't healing as fast as it should from lack of medical attention, but did you notice your arm? Or any of the other places you were injured?"

Ed glanced at his arm, where there was angry red skin around where a small hole was.

"You're lucky you didn't get tetanus from that," Ducky continued. "It appears to have been from a screw."

"A screw?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Like he ran into something, or something into him, and a screw went through his arm. Or he was stabbed with it, although why his arm I have no idea. If it was torture, there would be more than one mark, most likely. Although it looks like you tried to pull it out several times, so I think you were stuck. It was ripped out a few seconds later, however," Ducky said. He finished wrapping the stomach wound, and dumped anesthetic on the arm wound. "He's worse than the rest of you! And that's saying something."

"Can you identify what the rest of these were from?" Gibbs asked, motioning at the rest of these scars.

"I am worried about that one," Ziva said, gesturing at a wide scar on Ed's stomach.

Ducky and Palmer glanced at each other. "I-I think I know what that could be caused from, but… I don't think anyone could _survive_ that. You'd have to have really fast healing skin cells to survive, and, well…" Palmer finally stuttered.

Gibbs gave him a 'stop blabbering on and on _now_' look. "What's it from?"

"…Well, it's from a pole," Ducky said. "Like the type that builders use to support ceilings. He was run through with a support pole."

"That's wonderful," Ed muttered under his breath.

"What was this one from?" Dinozzo asked, redirecting their attention back to the original shoulder scar.

"That appears to be from some sort of knife. Except, I don't think I can tell you what kind. It must have been specially made," Ducky said. "Hm…these aren't from anything like the others." He motioned to the ones around Ed's arm. "They appear surgical."

"Um, doctor? Is it just me, or do these look like they connect through the nerves?" Palmer asked, motioning to the metal arm and the flesh shoulder. Ducky nodded solemnly.

"And you would have had to have been conscious without any pain killers," Ducky added. "These are definitely some…interesting scars you have here, Ed."

"I guess we know why I can fight so well," Ed said, trying to lighten the mood.

"What did you see?" Ziva suddenly demanded. The others looked confused, but Ed caught on.

"A shadow. Well, that's what I think it was, except, shadow's aren't sharp," Ed said, rubbing his shoulder scar. "Great. Sharp shadows. Wonder what the hell that's about."

"And that's how you got that scar?" Ziva asked, motioning toward his shoulder.

"Yeah."

Gibbs's phone rang. Everyone in the room immediately marveled at the bad timing of it. A few seconds later, he hung up on the person, and sighed. "We have a job. Ed, are you okay enough to come if you want to? Vance wouldn't normally let me do this, but if you have that many scars, then you have that many memories attached to them. In our line of duty, you might get your memory back faster."

Ed nodded, and slipped off the autopsy table. Gibbs's team started to leave.

"Uh…Can I have a shirt?"

* * *

*No, Abby, you don't.

** Who wants to start counting all the walls he's fallen through, hm? So don't give me any "oh he's going to have broken bones from that" crap. _{I fall through walls, off tall buildings and into severed heads all the time, and I haven't once broken a bone. Maybe a couple teeth, but that was different.}_

By the way. Since Okerby and Lynch were from the CIA and FBI, they moved back and forth between the two buildings. They didn't stay at one in particular. But some of the agents went over to the other building to challenge Ed in a rematch. Idiots. _{Some people just aren't born with common sense.}_

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	5. Tackles

Tackles

a/n: Unless something changed in the hour I've been here_ {I ate another cookie}_, I still don't own NCIS or Fullmetal Alchemist _{and I still do_}. Moving on…

* * *

"The guy's name is Frederick Pulot. Pulot was murdered roughly a week ago, found in a river, and smells like shit," Dinozzo said. The last comment was rewarded with a Gibbs slap. "Well, he does. But that's not his fault. Or is it? Okay, anyway, Pulot has been missing for a week before his murder, so where was he before that? No idea. The fiancée's in hysterics, but she probably did it."

"Why?" Ed asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He always thinks it was the spouse if the spouse is female. Although to-be spouses also count," Ziva, the only other person with them since they'd left McGee to the computer, said irritably.

"That's because it normally is them!" The two broke out into an argument, and Gibbs and Ed exchanged an exasperated look. It was a bad sign when Gibbs was beginning to think the hot-headed teen was probably more mature than his agents*.

Ed watched the two bicker, brow furrowed. The arguing was really familiar from somewhere. He was pretty sure he'd been doing some of it (okay, _most_ of it), but it hadn't been serious, or wouldn't he have just punched the person? Well, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure he had tried to at one point of time or another. The other guy had just been able to dodge way too easily because he'd gotten used to when Ed would attack.

"Brown, blonde, red, or black hair?" Gibbs suddenly asked. Ed turned to him, and Ziva and Dinozzo paused in their argument. "You were trying to remember someone. Brown, blonde, red, black, or even bald?"

Ed blinked. "Um, I think a darker color, like brown or black. His eyes were the same color. He was annoying." Ed frowned. He'd immediately thought it was a guy. But he'd argued with two people, hadn't he? "But, there was someone else I argued with when I saw… her? Yeah, I think it was a girl. The two were polar opposites in looks, so I think she had long blond hair."

"Someone's got a girlfriend," Dinozzo suddenly whispered to Ziva. Ed resisted the urge to throw something at him.

"Or just a very good friend," Ziva snapped back. She turned back to Ed. "You said 'when I see her'. You didn't see her often?" Ed shook his head. Ziva turned to Dinozzo. "Hah! He wouldn't have been dating someone he couldn't see often!"

Dinozzo shrugged. "Skype. Cell phone. Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. Want me to continue?"

Ziva rolled her eyes, and the two continued debating.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked quietly.

Ed shook his head. "No. But there's a lot of figures I keep remembering when I'm around you all. It's like the people I'm expecting to be seeing, but not. Kind of like a family that I'm not related to in any way in blood or marriage. Just really close friends."

"Not foster parents?"

"I'm non-social as it is. Who the hell in their right minds would adopt me?" Ed frowned. "Three of the figures stand out, though. One of them is closer to me than the others, but two have two shorter figures for the same person."

Ziva and Dinozzo had turned back to Ed. Well, Dinozzo was keeping his eyes on the road (hopefully), but he was listening. "Two shorter figures?" Ziva clarified.

"Yeah. For one of them, the shorter figure is sitting…a wheelchair, I guess. That one's clearer. I guess the dimmer figures of the two are how I used to remember them. So I remember him before he was in the wheelchair…" Ed decided.

"And the other two people person?"

"One of them I'm closer to. I think he's the only one who's family. His taller figure is…really tall. But I remember him as being shorter, shorter than me. I don't know, a brother?" Ed frowned. "The other only has one figure, but it's a shadow. So if the shadows mean the past, then… he's dead, I suppose."

"Well, your brother must have hit a serious growth spurt," Dinozzo said. Ed shrugged in response. "Damn. Well, as much as we're having fun with Twenty Questions, we're here."

He pulled up into the marine training reserve.

Gibbs got out, and turned to Ed. "No offense, but I don't think they'll take us serious if-"

Ed shrugged it off. "I'll stay by the car." Gibbs nodded in appreciation, and walked off.

* * *

"He threw a stink bomb into the men's bathroom! Why do you _think_ we don't like him?" The marine they were talking to replied to Dinozzo's question. "Look, what's this about? What did he do this time?"

"He showed up dead in a river, that's what he did. Thoughts on that?" Gibbs asked.

The marine looked in between them. "You're kidding. Bastard kicked the bucket, did he? I mean, I don't think a few pranks are enough to be killed over, but the pranks started to get annoying, you know? And I know, respect the dead and all, but he was really starting to get on everyone's nerves. Ask around. Ite is probably the only one who'll say otherwise. He was Pulot's partner-in-crime, I guess you could say."

"Okay, we'll go talk to him. Where is he?" Gibbs asked.

The marine pointed toward someone talking with some people. He looked up, saw the other marine pointing at him, and bolted in the other direction toward the parking lot.

"Should we chase him?" Ziva asked. "Or wait for Ed to-oh there he goes," she said as a leg whacked Ite in the midsection and took him down. "Never mind."

* * *

"I hope I was supposed to do that," Ed said when they walked up to him.

"Yup, you were," Gibbs said, hauling the marine to his feet. "Mind if we talk to you, or do you want to run again? Because I'm sure Ed would love to chase you down. And you already know he'll chase you." The marine glanced at Ed, and his jaw dropped. Ed smirked.

"Well, uh, what do you want to talk to me about?" he stuttered, glancing at Ed again.

"Why did you run?" Ziva asked.

"Because you were chasing me! And… well, it was Frederick's idea! I didn't do anything! What'd he do this time, and blame me for?" Ite said, holding up his hands.

Dinozzo sighed. "You ran because you thought Putol did something, and split the blame with you?"

Ite nodded.

"People around here are saying you're his partner-in-crime, so to speak," Gibbs said. "If he'd done something, don't you think he would've told you, or done it with you?"

"Well, yeah, that's why this is kind of odd. We're best friends, you know? Do everything together. I was throwing stink bombs with him, dumping water on the obstacle course, and I should probably shut up now."

"Doesn't matter. That's not what we're here for. Putol's dead," Gibbs said, leaning back.

Ite gaped at him. "What? No! I saw him two weeks ago! He told me he wasn't feeling well Sunday night, and I haven't seen him since! He's dead? What happened? Who killed him?"

"If we knew, would we be talking to you?" Dinozzo replied.

"Well, I don't know!"

Ed glanced up, and saw one of the only women on site watching them. "Who's that watching us?" he asked without turning to face them.

"That? Oh, that's Rena Sorrom. Putol's friend," Ite said.

Gibbs said, letting go of Ite, "Anything else you want to mention before we go talk to her?"

Ite looked at the ground. He shook his head, and stared to walk off. He paused, and then turned back around, rubbing his stomach. "Uh, he's not going to take my head off or something if I…" He motioned in the direction he'd been going. Ed snickered, and Gibbs shook his head, also amused.

Ite walked off, nervously glancing over his shoulder. "How hard did you kick him?" Ziva asked.

"Pretty hard. That, and well, he was running into my leg as well, so…" Ed shrugged. "It was his fault too."

"To the girl 'friend'!" Dinozzo said, walking around the car to go to Sorrom.

"And now he's 100% sure _she_ did it," Ziva muttered, motioning to Sorrom where Dinozzo was now talking to her. Ed snickered again, and paused.

"Should I wait by the car, or…?"

"Up to you," Gibbs said. "You're now taken down one of their marines, and those who saw it will keep that in mind."

Ed frowned, and went back to the car. "No one's going to try and take off," he decided.

Gibbs shrugged, and he and Ziva joined Dinozzo.

* * *

"He's dead?" Sorrom shrieked. Marines near her started scooting away to preserve their eardrums.

"Yeah, he is. Were you sleeping with him?" Dinozzo asked.

"What?" Marines scooted a little farther away. "No! He was married! So I dated him in high school! But he's getting married, and so am I. Just not to each other." She glanced in between them all. "Look, I swear I didn't do it!"

"To who?" Ziva asked.

"James," Sorrom said immediately.

"Last name?"

"Ite. James Ite."

The three paused. "I don't suppose we can send Ed after him to humor ourselves, can we?" Dinozzo finally said. Gibbs gave him a look.

* * *

A dripping wet Ite sat in the interrogation room. He glanced around nervously, avoiding looking at Ed, who was standing in the room with him under Dinozzo's suggestions.

Gibbs walked in, and glanced at Ed. Then he gave a glare to where he knew Dinozzo was standing behind the mirror. Dinozzo rubbed the back of his head, already feeling the Gibbs's slap. Gibbs glanced at Ed, and gestured with his head to the door. "Whack Dinozzo for me, will you?"

Ed smirked, nodded, and left. He whacked Dinozzo a few seconds later.

"Why did you run?" Gibbs asked. "Again?"

"He was chasing me! Again!" Ite said, motioning to where Ed had left. "And if he was going to take out my nuts again, I figured I'd want to be anywhere but there!"

"Oo." Ziva made a sound of sympathy. "Nice placement, Ed."

"I don't think I hit him there…" Ed said. He and Dinozzo both had looks of pain on their faces. "At least, I hope I didn't."

"And you ran straight for the lake?" Gibbs asked Ite, redirecting the attention of the people behind the mirror.

"Well, I didn't think he was going to tackle me and take me into it." Ite scowled.

"Of course you didn't. Why didn't you tell us you are engaged to Rena Sorrom?"

"Why didn't I-Well, why _would_ I? Does it matter?"

"It could."

"It doesn't! Look, I know Rena, and she knows me! Neither of us murdered him!"

"Really, then where were you the night of his murder?"

"Rena and I were sleeping together. So don't even bother asking her."

Gibbs gathered his files. "We'll probably be talking again soon." He walked out the door, and the others came out behind him.

"Why'd you ask him where he was? He didn't have to activate the magnet from the spot if he had a camera set up there," Ed asked as they walked down the hallway.

"Ah, but the thing is to not let them know that we know that. And someone might have seen them activate it, or known what they were doing, etc. etc.," Ziva explained.

"Oh. What do we do now?" Ed said.

"We-" Gibbs was interrupted by his office phone ringing, and picked it up, and said, "Gibbs." After a few seconds, he all but threw the phone down. The ones within hearing range could hear the angry voice click off.

"Who's not happy this time?" Ziva asked.

"Okerby and Lynch," Gibbs said irritably. He turned to Ed. "We figure out where the remote for the magnet is."

"Okay," he said, nodding.

"Wait, why would they take the remote and the camera, but not the magnet?" McGee said from behind his desk.

"Too heavy," Ed said. "They wouldn't have been able to carry it there and back. Especially if they thought someone might be coming."

Dinozzo jerked a thumb at him and turned to Ziva. "I thought we've only had him around one case. And even though, only a part of one."

"McGee. Can you trace the remote?" Gibbs asked.

"I can try, boss," McGee said, turning to his computer. "Can you ask Abby to bring up the magnet-or, I can go down there," he said as everyone who had carried down the heavy magnet glared at him. He gathered up his laptop, and headed down to Abby's lab.

"So, why not just use a gun?" Ziva asked to no one in particular.

"He wanted to show he was a pain in the ass?" Ed suggested.

"Something tells me that's not the case," Dinozzo said. "What if he didn't _have_ a gun?"

"Then explain why he happened to have something that could probably be fired through a gun of some sort, Dinozzo," Gibbs remarked.

Dinozzo had to pause on that one. "Er, let me thing about that for a minute… To avoid suspicion? He couldn't work his gun?"

The other three stared at him. "Then why would he buy a gun? And how would that let him avoid suspicion?" Ziva asked. "Yes, it might help if he couldn't work a gun, but why not use a different method of killing? There are many other methods."

"Alibi. If he needed an alibi, and happened to have a gun, and didn't have enough time or patience to go get something else to kill the person with that would give him an alibi," Ed said.

"So ironically, is someone has an alibi, they most likely did this one," Ziva summarized.

Gibbs's phone rang. "Yeah? Okay, we'll go." He hung up. "Guess who's trying to leave town."

"Ite?"

"Sorrom?"

"Okerby?" Ed randomly said.

The NCIS agents glanced at Ed. "Actually, Lynch is heading over _here_, but case-related, you're both right," Gibbs said glancing at Ziva and Dinozzo. "They're both running."

* * *

Ziva took another sharp corner, and Dinozzo, Ed, and Gibbs were more than a little grateful they were all wearing their seatbelts. They'd managed to ditch Lynch at the NCIS building, so it was only the four driving to where Ite and Sorrom were, courtesy of Sorrom's GPS tracker.

"Woah, Ziva! Newsflash: as of yet, we're not in a high-speed chase!" Dinozzo said, gripping his seat tightly. Ziva rolled her eyes. "Oh I forgot, 'slow' isn't in your dictionary."

"Yes it is. I use it on you all the time," Ziva replied easily. Dinozzo mocked a wince.

They spotted the car a minute later. Ziva pulled up next to them, and Gibbs flashed the badge, and motioned for them to pull over. They drove off the side of the road, and came to a halt. The NCIS agents parked behind them.

* * *

"Where were you going?" Gibbs asked when both cars had been evacuated.

"Just getting away for a while," Ite said nervously. "Uh, why? Is that illegal all of a sudden?"

"It would be if you killed Pulot and were trying to escape a murder conviction," Ziva said. "Which, by the way, makes sense since you purchased a one-way flight ticket to England. Commentary on that?"

"Look, we just wanted to get away from here. Pulot was a friend of both of ours and we… we didn't want to have to face his relatives," Sorrom replied, looking between all of them. "Even if we stayed for his funeral, we would have to face them."

"Not even staying for his funeral. Some friends you are," Gibbs said with crossed arms.

"I just told you why we're not going to be there. And besides, he's dead. I'm sure his remains don't mind if we don't make it," Ite said, glancing around.

"Yeah, we can just forget about the whole 'respect' department for a while." Dinozzo smirked. "Besides, you've got a while left in the marines. Leaving that behind as well? It's going to be fun explaining that to the English. They'll be curious."

The two paused.

"How'd you find us?" Sorrom asked.

"Your GPS. Why were you leaving the country?"

"Because what his fiancée knows, and what we know, is that he has a niece in the orphanage in England. She doesn't want to leave, so we figured we'd go over there, and we would take care of her," Ite said with a sigh.

"And this didn't come up in his report why?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know! She's not a direct blood relative, I guess. His brother got a divorce, and afterwards his ex had a child. The niece. By chance, the ex met with Frederick, and they dated for a while before splitting up. Sarah, the ex, moved to England with her niece. She was arrested for something or other, and Marilyn, the niece, was put in an orphanage since Frederick's brother didn't want her," Sorrom explained. "Frederick was thinking of adopting her, though, and since he's gone…"

The NCIS agents exchanged glances, and by the car, Ed rubbed his head.

"If we have anything else, we'll be seeing you in England," Gibbs finally said.

"We will?" Dinozzo said, mildly surprised.

"We will. Let's go," Gibbs said, turning away from the couple. The other NCIS agents followed them, and got into the car along with Ed.

"Well, that was a mess," Ed summarized a few minutes down the road.

* * *

*Uh, what?

a/n: I don't know if you've noticed, but I had that really long pause where some people were expecting this and I never posted it. I'll tell you why. I prepare most of it in advance so that I don't have to change it while it's posted in case I make a mistake in more than grammar or spelling. So most of this is probably already finished, I'm just not posting it all at once. Why? Cause I'm evil. _{Very true.}_


	6. Fifty in the Pot

Fifty in the Pot

a/n: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS, and I want a cookie. Tsuki, give me your imaginary cookies. _{Get your own imaginary cookies}_

* * *

Mustang's eye twitched at the paper he was reading. Hawkeye looked up. "What did Fuhrer Grumman say?"

"Well, this was supposed to be publicized, but he died before he could announce it," Mustang said, eye still twitching. "He wanted to officially say that Fullmetal was dead."

The others in his office looked up and stared at him.

"Uh…he does realize that the Chief's not dead, right? I mean, this is Ed we're talking about. He's not going to let the Truth kill him," Havoc said. Breda looked amused, and Fuery was smirking.

"If Ed's dead, then we're all probably dead too. Think of it that way. The only thing that'll kill him will be because he gets brain damage from Winry or his teacher, and that kills him. And I doubt either of them will ever go that far," Falman said. "So I don't think he's dead."

"Fullmetal dies when the world ends," Mustang agreed. "Okay, I think it's pretty much unanimous that this isn't going to be announced. The kid's going to be back in three weeks. Give or take."

"Nah. He'll be back by next weekend. And made friends with aliens or something," Havoc said.

"Well, if he's making friends with the aliens, then don't you think he'll probably infiltrate their ranks without meaning to, and they'll all end up helping him home, or trying to stop him from accidentally getting himself hurt while coming back? He'll be back in five weeks," Fuery argued.

"I think it's going to be four weeks. He was wounded when we last saw him, and I don't think anyone will let him research getting back here before he's healed. Or he'll be busy trying to run away from the aliens he insulted," Falman replied.

"I could actually see him doing that," Al said from an empty desk. Knowing his brother would yell at him when (yes, _when_) he got back if he had officially joined the military, he was just helping, like he'd done before. Although for now, it was just politically. He still couldn't go out in the field, since he hadn't fully recovered. "But I think brother's going to be back anytime now."

"Al's right. But since I think now we're all entering the betting stage of this, I bet fifty that he'll be back before the week ends," Breda said.

"Fifties all around?" Mustang said, glancing at everyone who had made their opinion known.

"Ed will kill me if I do," Al said, sighing.

"Fine with me, though." Fuery smiled. "Although he might be pissed at us for doing this. Or find it hilarious."

"Ah, if he's pissed, he'll get over it. He'd do the same thing. Fifty for me," Havoc said.

"Yeah." Falman nodded. "Fifty. Who wants to pay up now?"

"Psh. Yeah, to me." Mustang smirked. He was met with various rounds of disapprovals.

"Do any of you remember that we're supposed to be cleaning out the desks and paperwork so we can get ready for more?" Hawkeye said, bringing the rest back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, that's why we're here. Since Mustang's Fuhrer, he's going to have more paperwork than before," Havoc said, smirking.

Mustang sighed. "Why, paperwork? Why me?"

"It's your own fault," Hawkeye said. "Drachma's been relatively quiet lately. Of course, Armstrong's also back at Briggs after she demanded being sent back there."

"I don't think she likes the weather down here," Mustang said.

Havoc snorted. "You mean she doesn't like _you_. You beating her to this position might have something to do with it."

"No, I think she just hates me in general." Mustang shrugged.

"There might be some truth to that," Al said in amusement.

* * *

"Mission successful. There is life on the other side. A while of infiltration, and we'll know what we need to know to attack or make allies with them. Although it seems they are ahead of us in intelligence," a Drachma soldier told his superior.

"Ahead? In what ways?" the superior replied sharply.

"Cars are advanced. They go faster and more quietly than ours do. We saw something flying, and thought it was a bird. But it was mechanical, and it looked big enough to have people in it. People spoke into boxes held to their ears, like phones, but better. There were a lot more people, so probably better immunization to disease. And their buildings were better. Everything was advanced," the soldier said.

The superior turned to his superior, who was also in the room. He in turn created a chain effect, until they were all looking at the General. "Were they hostile? Did anyone notice you?"

"Some looked at us weirdly, but there were other people who looked odder. Some people yelled into their 'phones' but other than that, they didn't seem very hostile. We didn't see anyone who looked like soldiers," the Drachman soldier said.

"So if we attacked, they may be weaker than us*," The general said. "Or they may be stronger**, and don't need to enforce their citizens. Do you have any idea what the country was called, or where you were?"

"We seemed to be in the capitol of a country called America, or the U.S. We heard it called both. The capitol was called Washington D.C."

"Maybe we should pay a visit to them in the near future," the general said in a tone that implied there was no 'maybe'.

* * *

"Boss? Why are we being pulled off this case?" McGee asked as the rest of his team entered the building.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at McGee. "We are?"

"In a sense," Vance said, walking up behind them. "Your team has been proved one of the most capable, if not the most capable, in dealing with this sort of thing." He turned to Lynch, who was standing and watching them. "You should probably head back to your department."

"No, I've got a few questions and an update on Ed waiting. Besides, I can send information to the CIA and FBI on anything you get. To make sure you don't accidentally leave anything out," Lynch said, with enough pressure put on the 'accidentally' to make it sarcasm.

"Fine," Vance said, and turned back to Gibbs. "Something was found near D.C. We have no idea what it is. It's never been seen before. We've got conspiracy theorists crawling all over it, and the government's giving everyone the 'don't ask, we're clueless'. However, this was only found when a group of people came through. So someone's on the other side. You've proven capable in this sort of thing, and Agent David is a Mossad agent. So, we want you keeping tabs on this. If we make anymore contact, you'll be on the scene."

"You're leaving gaps. 'If' we make anymore contact?" Gibbs said, arms crossed.

"They're coming to us, not the other way around. We're not risking lives if they're risking theirs."

"We're investigators for murder usually, not phenomena."

Vance paused, and cocked his head slightly in Ed's direction. "You won't be directly on the scene. You'll continue investigating murders until something new pops up. That's when you move in. Agent Lynch, you might want to be back in your agency."

"Once I'm done here," Lynch replied. Vance nodded, and walked away.

Lynch turned to the group. "Before you continue your investigation, what have you found on Ed?"

"A group of people, most of them not family but one, that I knew. I've been in fights. That's it." Ed shrugged, taking a seat at his usual chair. He leaned back, watching Lynch.

"What did the people look like?"

"Figures, that's it. Some of them had shadows behind them, and one _was_ a shadow," Ed said."Are we done?"

"Yup. You're gaining more here than you are back at the FBI or CIA. We'll just check in on you every once in a while." Lynch paused. "Something to consider. When someone comes through that thing on the building, take him with you." Lynch motioned to Ed.

"You think that might be where he came from?" McGee asked.

"Better chance than anything else. No history, and different DNA." Lynch shrugged. "Just a thought." Without another word, he turned and walked to the elevator.

There was a pause, before Gibbs began issuing orders. McGee began checking for the niece and what orphanage, Ziva and Dinozzo went to question the fiancée again about the niece, and Ed and Gibbs went down to Ducky.

"Just when I wanted to talk to you. Impeccable timing as always, Jethro," Ducky said when they arrived at the morgue.

"What've you got?"

"He drowned, which you probably guessed. But the odd thing is, there is no sign of a struggle," Ducky said, motioning to un-bruised fists, and other areas usually distorted from a fight. "Do you know if he could swim well?"

"We'll check on that," Gibbs said, walking away. "Thanks, Ducky."

"So, this might not be a murder?" Ed asked.

"Sometimes it's not anything other than a simple accident," Gibbs said as the elevator doors opened. As they walked in, McGee waved them over.

"Ite and Sorrom were right. The niece does live in an orphanage in England," McGee said. "Everything else they said added up too. I can't find any reason to suspect them."

"There might not be. From what Ducky said, this might not be a murder," Gibbs said. "He might have just drowned." Gibbs pulled out a cell phone, and called Ziva. He explained what needed to be asked, and Ed took his seat again. Putting his chin in his hand, he stared at a particular spot.

A figure was standing in a door way, looking down. Then he turned, and walked away, closing the door behind him. Ed knew there was someone next to him, and someone else there. Both were shadows, and so was everything around him. The man he had seen was hazy. Like he may or may not be dead. But something told Ed he was, like he'd had a heart condition or something.

"Earth to Ed," McGee said, looking at the teen staring off into space. Gibbs looked up, waiting for the response.

"He's dead," Ed suddenly said, to the surprise of both agents. "It was too much, what he last did. He doesn't have enough to keep going. If he's not dead by now, he will be soon."

"Who's dead?" Gibbs asked.

"My father. But… he wasn't around much. Mom's already gone. So is home." Ed replied nonchalantly, not paying attention.

"Your mother is dead? Why is home gone?" McGee asked. "What happened to it?" Gibbs glanced at him, telling him to back off.

"I burned it down. Home, that is. Mom died from an illness."

"You…burned it down?" Gibbs asked despite himself.

"Yeah. I needed to."

"Why?"

Ed slipped a hand into his pocket, and pulled out a silver pocket watch. "Because of this. I'm not sure why, but I know that this is really important."

"It's a pocket watch," McGee said in confusion.

"Not the watch itself, but what it represents," Ed replied. "And no, I don't know what it represents."

"How long ago did you burn your house down? Was it after or before you met the other people? Was it burned down because of them?" McGee noted with vague amusement that Gibbs was doing what Gibbs had warned McGee not to do.

"I burned it down before I met them, but it was…sort of because of them. I had to keep moving forward, and they helped me." Ed frowned. "I'm not sure about the time span. I burned it down October 11, 1910, so… What's the date?"

He looked up, and saw McGee and Gibbs both slack-jawed. "It's… Ed, this year is 2010. You're fifteen, not a hundred and fifteen, or however old you were at the time you burned it down," McGee said.

"What? No, it can't be… I'm not that old." Ed frowned. "Lynch must have been right about me being from the other side of that thing. The dates must be different."

"I sure hope they are," McGee muttered.

"Hey, boss-what happened here?" Dinozzo said, raising an eyebrow at the expressions he was received with. "Someone die?"

Ed glared, and McGee rubbed his head. Gibbs gave him a whack. "Wrong choice of words, Dinozzo. What've you got?"

"Fiancée says he couldn't swim. And that he was working on a project for the military," Ziva said.

"What if the project included the magnet? That would explain why he had it with him. We found it in the river, so maybe it fell in and he went after it," McGee said, glancing in between everyone.

"It'd make sense. Boss, we came back here to see if you wanted us to go ahead and check out the area," Dinozzo explained.

"I have a phone, Dinozzo." Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"That you didn't answer," Dinozzo said. "So, what happened?"

"Let's just say that 'Someone died?' was the worst thing you could say," McGee said. "Or pretty close, anyway."

"Go back to the scene of the crime, and see if there are any signs of a struggle," Gibbs said. "McGee, contact his superiors, and figure out if he was working on a magnet-related project for them."

Three of the group started working, and Gibbs turned to Ed. "Want to continue trying to remember this, or wait?"

"I think I'll pass," Ed said. The phone chose that time to ring.

"Gibbs," Gibbs said into it. "Alright, we're going." He put the phone back down. "Dinozzo, Ziva, McGee." The three stopped what they were doing. "We're heading to Jayson Avenue. Guess what just opened on a field?"

"Did you want us to answer that, or was it rhetorical?" Dinozzo asked. Gibbs slapped him as he walked into the elevator, and the others joined him. "Rhetorical it is."

* * *

"General Yaro of Drachma," the person in front of them said. Ed was standing back, watching. The group hadn't noticed him yet. Their uniforms were familiar from somewhere… "Who are you?"

"Agents Gibbs, Dinozzo, David, McGee, Lynch, Okerby, Kuther, Mann, Wetherson, Guyo, and Derson," Gibbs said.

"Who's in charge of the country of where we are standing in?" Yaro asked.

"The President isn't here right now. We're a high on security after several terrorist threats and actions in the past few years," Gibbs replied. "Why are you here?"

"It's best to know about fellow countries, even if they are across the universe. Do you know how this came about?" Yaro asked, motioning at the white portal behind him, sparking with lightning.

"Nope. You're best guess is probably as good as ours," Gibbs replied. Ed was a bit surprised he was the only one talking, that the FBI and CIA-who both had agents present-weren't speaking up yet.

Yaro nodded, and then paused. He'd caught sight of Ed. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. Gibbs noticed that Yaro almost looked…nervous.

"I'm standing here. What else do you think I'm doing?" Ed replied.

"I didn't think Amestris knew about this," Yaro said through narrowed eyes. "We haven't attacked Briggs recently, you know."

"Okay then," Ed responded. He was a bit lost in the conversation.

"It was that damn Kimblee. We would've won the last battle if not for him," Yaro growled. "He tried to make us lose. Did Fuhrer Mustang send you, Fullmetal?" Yaro asked.

Ed didn't respond. Fuhrer Mustang? That combination suprised him. Fuhrer... "Fuhrer?"

"How did you not know he was Fuhrer? Unless our sources were right. You _did_ go missing," Yaro realized. "Right after most of Amestris was killed. Why were you missing?"

"None of your damn business."

"Actually, I'm trying to take over your country. It _is_ my business."

"Why would you want to tell him that in extremely non-strategic reasoning?" Ziva frowned.

"Because I already know it. Why do you keep attacking? Your ass is just going to be kicked again. And again. And again. So why bother?" Ed asked, crossing his arms.

"It's not just Briggs. There's no way we'd be stopped by a single fortress. You have the strongest military in the world." He glanced at the agents. "I doubt this country can top you, even if we are behind technologically. That's our fault?"

"I'm sorry, why are they stronger than us?" Okerby frowned.

"Because they have things at your disposal that you don't. If you've been leaning toward technology, and not what they do, there's no way you'd be able to stand against them*," Yaro snarled. He turned to Ed. "You. I don't know why you're here, but if you really went missing, then Amestris is not allies with the U.S." He turned to the agents. "You don't know what's going on here. You don't know the full story."

"Yeah, and neither do you." Gibbs smirked. "Keep that in mind too."

"He stays with you, I'm assuming, since he's with you right now. What you're trying to do is harness an attack dog. See how well that works until he strikes back," Yaro snarled. "You don't have any control over him. And in full honesty, I don't want to be anywhere near when you figure that out first hand. Dogs do as their master commands. And sometimes not even then. That says something about their instability." Yaro turned to Ed. "You killed your own _leader_. Not to say that Bradley wasn't a bastard, but he was the one who pulled the strings for you. And then one of the attack dogs lost control." He turned back to the agents. "They killed a whole country neighboring them. Wiped out _everyone_."

"Not everyone died!" Ed snapped. He didn't completely know what Yaro was talking about, but he knew that much.

"He doesn't even deny it!" Yaro shouted.

"You're the ones trying to take over Amestris, and I doubt you won't kill us all when you do! And besides, you don't know what was going. What happened there wasn't completely our fault," Ed snarled. He still had no idea what country they were talking about. What Yaro was saying...it sounded right. He'd been called an attack dog before. It was nothing new. Didn't mean it wasn't still insulting.

"Oh really? Then do explain. And I doubt it was Bradley's fault, or you would've killed him earlier."

"Actually, it _was_ his fault," Ed snapped. His argument was striking memories, and as they came, they became ammo.

"Really? Then do explain."

"Yeah right. You're an enemy country, and I have no obligation to tell you."

Yaro rolled his eyes. Again, he turned to the agents. "This is exactly my point. You can't trust the attack dogs, and they've got one in command, and from your expressions, they've also infiltrated you with one of them. Just wait until he turns against you. You won't be left with a fraction of what you were before. Is that what you want? Total annihilation? I'm sure your superiors will appreciate that. Amestris's dogs are dangerous to them_selves_. Kimblee, Crimson, went mad and they had him locked up. Flame, Fullmetal, Strong Arm, and a few others killed their leader. And you think they'll be peaceful towards opposing countries? Please. If you're suicidal, you could've said that in the first place. Seriously, when their own _country_ despises them, that should say something right there." He glanced at Ed. "We're putting a price on your head, Fullmetal. Enjoy it.

"A hundred thousand Geta****. And if your country of America, or the U.S., keeps harboring him, we'll attack." With that, he turned on his heel and left.

* * *

*Yeah, just wait until you see the nukes…

**That's better.

***I'm sorry, nukes? Helloooooo. Well, I guess in the direct field of battle they could take them.

****I made this up. How much is? Er...a lot? I don't know.

Yay, a long chapter! And yes, I did just stick in Drachma. Why? Because I figured they'd find out faster than Amestris about this, considering that Amestris is rebuilding after the revolt, and everyone dying, and the death of two Fuhrers in a row, and do you want me to continue? _{No, no not really. I just want more cookies from your reviewers.}_

Yaro's another OC. There shouldn't be much more of them. _{Lies} _I just needed some people to fill the spots I had that were empty. _{Uh huh.} _And besides, all the Drachmans that were mentioned are dead.


	7. Without All the Puzzle Pieces

Without All the Puzzle Pieces

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS. _{That would be me. Yes, me with all the cookies. That me.}_

* * *

No one spoke. Then:

"Is it just me, or does that seem like it'd be more than a little hard to convert into dollars?" Dinzzo perked up.

"You know, that is exactly what I was thinking," Ziva said. "So, no, we are not killing Ed then."

"Yes, I'm glad to hear you were considering it," Ed said dryly.

"You remember everything?" Okerby asked.

"You know just about as much as I remember," Ed replied.

"Please tell me someone recorded all that, because I'm not going to be able to remember it," Lynch spoke up. One of his agents waved a recording device. "Ah, thank you."

* * *

"What was with the attack dog phrase that was mentioned several times?" Okerby asked in an FBI interrogation room. All in the room were Ed, Dinozzo, Ziva, McGee, Gibbs, Lynch, and Okerby. The NCIS team had managed it because Ed gave more answers with them around. "And the 'Fullmetal' term. It sounded military, and from what General Yaro said, it probably was. You're fifteen years old. How the hell are you military?" Okerby snapped.

"I don't know, damn it! I-I think I was a child prodigy in something they needed."

"Child prodigy? In what, fire arms?"

Ed snorted. "In all honesty, I'd probably shoot my foot off. No, alchemy, I think."

"Alchemy?" Lynch asked. "That's a dead art. Has been for a long time."

"That's because as Yaro said, you've looked more at technology than alchemy. If your predecessors had looked closer into it, you would've found a lot more than you have. Remember what I did to Vance? That was alchemy."

"Alchemy is changing one thing into another. How can that be used as a weapon?" Ziva asked. "It was too slow to be used as a weapon, too. It took months, even years, to complete one thing."

Ed shook his head. "Again, you just needed to look closer. Some alchemists can complete their works in hours or minutes."

"That's pretty fast, from months or years," Dinozzo commented.

Ed flashed him a grin over his shoulder. "Others, like me, can accomplish it in seconds. And sometimes without the plural."

No one in the room spoke for a second.

"I think I might know how it can be used as a weapon, but..." Ed trailed off. He shook his head. "Never mind."

"What? How can it be used?" Okerby leaned forward.

Ed looked up at him. "That's an answer that you don't want." Okerby tried to say something, but Ed interrupted him. "Right now, you see me as some, I don't know, innocent teenager or something. If I tell you, you're vision's going to morph, and it won't be pretty." Honestly, he really didn't want to think that he could do the sorts of things he knew were possible with alchemy. Burning people alive, destroying them from the inside out, changing their chemical mixture into nothing.

"What type of bastard would let a kid your age join the military?" Okerby snarled.

Something flipped into place as he said that. Ed had no idea what sparked it, but Okerby barely was able to finish the sentence before an automail fist crashed into his face. Okerby stumbled back, shattered nose bleeding profusely. "Shut the **** up. If he's a bastard, then what the hell does that make _you_?" Ed snarled.

"Okay, uh, that got a response." Lynch blinked. Ed turned his glare momentarily to Lynch, and Lynch held up both hands. "Just saying. Er, if you're going to attack anyone, attack him," Lynch pointed to Okerby, "but why did you respond like that?"

"Bitch," Okerby swore under his breath at Lynch.

Ed glared between the two. "Because the guy's helped me out more than I ever realized. And I owe him. Insult him again, and I'll see how many of your bones I can break before Lynch or Gibbs stops me. Got it?" Okerby only glared back in response.

"So, what was his name?" Lynch asked.

Ed closed his eyes, and leaned on the table with both hands. After all that, he really felt that he should be able to remember. This whole situation was really beginning to piss him off.

He whipped around, and punched the wall. The other three jumped slightly at the sound, and flakes of the wall crumbled away. "I don't remember. I don't remember any names," Ed growled. "Not even my own brother's, or the person who helped me out along the way."

"Do you remember why you annihalated the other country?" Okerby asked, holding his nose.

"Not all of them, which I also told Yaro. Keep up," Ed snapped.

"Why was everyone in your own country killed, just not permanently?" Lynch asked. He blinked. "Wait, that makes no sense."

"I don't know!" Ed shouted. "We..." He stopped, and leaned heavily against the wall. Staring at the ground, he tried to put pieces into place. Okerby began to ask something, but Ed shushed him with a hand gesture.

Yaro had said that they overthrew their own leader, who was apparently named Bradley. And he'd said that most of Amestris was killed. He had to assume that Amestris was his home country. But something had happened to them... Everyone had been resurrected, right? But that wasn't possible...

Ed looked up. Things were getting a little complicated. "White board. Marker. If you want any sense whatsoever out of what's going on, I'm going to need those."

* * *

The white board was wheeled in. Ed started writing down what he'd already figured out, and began to connect things together. The other three agents watched in amacement as things began to fall into place. They had ended up putting in a few more, and they were arranged haphazardly in a half circle, Ed at the center, writing.

On one board, it had all the people Yaro had mentioned written on it, with a brief description on them if they knew something about them. Ed explained everything as he wrote. "Bradley, previous Fuhrer, and leader of the country as well as the military. I don't remember that for a fact, but it fits in with everything else. I'll explain when I get to Mustang. Anyway, Kimblee was locked up during Bradley's reign, because I remember him being locked up. The guy was an ass, or I wouldn't have influenced his death, along with the rest of the military alchemists. Drachma had no influence in his death, and I don't believe that any of the alchemists killed him, because I don't think they were in the right place. However, I don't remember all the details of the war, when Bradley was killed, so I don't know for sure."

"You don't know all of what happened in the war?" Okerby asked.

"No, I don't. We were in the middle of a _war_, damn it, and I couldn't be everywhere at once. What did you expect, us to stop the war, sit down for tea, and talk about what was going on?" Ed was yelling by then.

"Why were you so intent on stopping them? I mean, why you, and not someone else?" Lynch asked.

Ed was practically burning a hole in Lynch. "_Because it's MY friends, MY family, and MY ***ing country that was going to get slaughtered! Why the ***ing hell do you THINK I wanted to stop them?"_ Ed practically screamed at Lynch. Agents hallways away later mentioned that the next few minutes were filled with shouted swear words.

"Why not someone else? Why you?" Okerby asked, wishing not for the first time he had a pair of earplugs.

"_Because I'm the only who could!_" Ed shouted. "Now shut the hell up and let me finish explaining this damn shit!" Ed rolled his eyes. "Now. Bradley was also killed because he was a threat to Amestris. I don't know why, so don't ask. I think he was also killed in Amestris.

"Kimblee is the Crimson Alchemist. Crimson, Strong Arm, Flame, and Fullmetal are all code names. I'm guessing the rest are alchemists, since I got into the military through being an alchemical prodigy, and Yaro refered to me as 'Fullmetal'. So, the rest are probably also code names for alchemists. Anyway, Kimblee was locked up because he went mad, and was later released. He was working with Bradley in the war, and I think he was also killed during the war."

"How do you know that he was released?" Gibbs asked.

"Because he was locked up right after he assisted in exterminating the one country. He didn't have time to betray Drachma. He must have been released.

"Either Flame or Strong Arm is Mustang. The alchemists are refered to as attack dogs, and he said one of them was put in charge. It can't be me for obvious reasons. Crimson's dead, and that leaves Flame and Strong Arm. However, I remember that Strong Arm's lineage was sort of related to his name, as well as his fighting style and his name. I think his name might have been Armstrong, so Flame is probably Mustang. Considering that, Mustang assisted in killing Bradley. The alchemists are military, so Mustang is military. However, I remember that he was steadily making his way up the ranks. I doubt he would leave that to become Fuhrer, so he must have reached the position of Fuhrer in the military.

"Strong Arm we've just about gone through already. Real name is Armstrong, and helped assassinate Bradley.

"Fullmetal alchemist, child prodigy, and joined the military at a young age. Why? Don't know. Also helped assassinate Bradley-I think I'm seeing a trend-and went missing recently. Once again, why? No reason to, since he had friends and family waiting behind."

"You realize you're talking about yourself in third person, right?" Dinozzo said.

"Yeah. It's just...there's lot missing here. What happened doesn't make any sense. I don't know why I'd leave, but I don't know how I could have been forced to either. I think that the others would have been able to take care of themselves, so they weren't under threat. I doubt I could be forced to through force." Ed frowned.

"I agree with that," Ziva said, recalling their sparring.

Ed turned to a different board, where a timeline had been drawn. "Okay, we've got gaps. Again. Surprise, surprise. Basically, my father left, Mom died, I got automail arms, my brother hit a growth spurt, I entered the military, we entered a civil war, Bradley was killed, I went missing, ended up here, and sometime during the last two I lost my memory," Ed summarized. "Anyone got anything they can add?"

"Er, no, but questions. How do you know the arrangement of those? Some we can't prove or disprove," Lynch said.

"I remember hating my father for not being at Mom's funeral." Ed's voice dropped.

"You...do not sound like you hate him, or like him," Ziva observed.

"Because I don't have feelings either way. Well, I hate him for not being there, but I think there was a good reason behind it. It'd be helpful if I could remember the reason, though. I know I got my metal limbs after her death, because we know it would have been painful, and she wouldn't have let me do that. We still don't know why I did that at a younger age, but then I joined the military, which might have a thing or two to do with it. We're also drawing blanks there too. Because of being in the military, I doubt I would have lost my memory from something in the war. So, something happened between when I went missing and when I reappeared here for me to lose my memory. Any more questions?"

"We need to cross over to this other dimension. Everything we need to know is there."

Everyone turned to stare at Gibbs. "Uh...you do realize that there's an angry country on the other side that just declared war on us for harboring Ed, right? And that they're quite ready to rip our heads off, right? You do remember the whole threat thing, right?" McGee asked.

"Of course I do. However, they're afraid enough of Ed to put a price on his head, and for Yaro to not attack us with him standing there. He's afraid of what Ed can do in close combat attacks. If he's with us, Yaro won't attack. And if he does, we can show them the advancement of our firearms. We only have a lot of questions, and no answers. Anyone else got any ideas that'll get us somewhere?"

No one was able to suggest anything.

"Great. When should we go?" Gibbs asked, crossing his arms, and raising an eyebrow, daring someone to defy him.

"Wait, Gibbs. If you guys go through to the other dimension...I don't think I can go through." Ed stared down at the table, shifting uncomfortably.

"What? Why?" Okerby frowned.

"Well, for once I think I sort of have an answer. I lost my memory. I might recognize people, and I might recognize their names, but I don't think I'll be able to remember the meanings behind why I know them, or what they've done for me. I guess my pride's just getting in the way, but I don't want to face them like that." Ed shifted again. "I don't remember why, but there's people I need to thank, that I never got the chance to before. But I don't want to thank them without knowing why I am or why I didn't before."

"Ed, there are people waiting for you to come back." Ziva frowned.

"I know, but..." He turned back to the boards. "This stuff is bothering me. When I go back, they'll be expecting someone to return. And right now... I don't know if I am that person. They've been waiting this long, and they've done a lot for me. So, they should get who they're waiting for back."

"And you think you can regain your memories from just looking at boards all day? Ed, if you don't go, you might never get your memories back," Dinozzo said.

"I know..."

"Hey, Ed," McGee suddenly said, an idea sparking. "Why do you need to say thank you to people?" Ed paused for a second, and McGee said, "Don't think, just speak."

"I need to thank my brother for going with me. I don't know why he did, I was a military dog and it was my job, but he should have stayed home with Winry. He came with me, and probably saved my butt multiple times because of it. I need to thank Al. I... never once even spoke in a civilized way to my superior officer. Even though he probably kept me in the military, which was where I needed to be for some reason, and helped me out more than I realized. Mustang dealt with me, and I never even sort of said thanks for all of it. Winry kept me standing on my leg, literally, by repairing it and my arm. Again, we mostly argued. I had a few lieutenants who had to deal with a teenager being ranked higher than them. That must've been tough. Mustang's subordinates dealt with me, also. We met a few people on our travels, and they patched me up or helped me along. Even though I think some of us tried to kill each other..." Ed blinked. "And we have names." He realized, saying it not like it was a part of the explanation he had given.

"Woah, McGee. Nice," Dinozzo said in surprise. "That actually worked."

"Okay, so you know Mustang? Well, I guess that's not surprising. Your paths have seemed to have crossed several times already." Lynch paused. He turned to Okerby. "Hey, uh, maybe you should get that nose looked at. Just saying. It's really bleeding." Okerby glared at him, but left the room. Lynch turned back to Ed. "I don't think we've heard Winry's name before."

"That's because we haven't. She's my mechanic." Ed was back to the boards, hastily writing down more information from what he had said.

"Was Al in the military?" Ziva asked.

"No, I wouldn't let him join. We already had one military dog, thank you very much. No need for any more. And besides, I only needed to be in for a while before..." Ed trailed off. He continued scribbling, and finally, Gibbs decided to ask what everyone else had been wondering about.

"Hey, Ed?" he called. Ed looked at him over his shoulder. "What does any of that say?"

Ed looked back to his writing, and then to Gibbs. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what does it say? What's decipherable doesn't make any sense. It's gibberish."

Ed looked back to the writing. "Look, it says..." He stared at it for a second, and then wondered how it was phonetically possible* to say {\\]e]%]!].~=p*_A:*}{?}:-%(^"|';.-+ "Okay, you might have a point there. Probably from the military."

"So, should some of us go through?" Ziva asked when Ed had paused in his writing.

"Yeah. I don't want to go with you guys this round. I think I should remember more things before I meet them again," Ed said quietly.

"So, what happened?" Okerby asked as he walked back inside. His nose was bandaged up.

"Some of us will go through, but Ed won't be going. Alright, let's get a team together, half CIA, half FBI." Lynch snapped his fingers together in a 'move, move, move' gesture.

Ed reacted without thinking. He slipped down, and his leg snaked out and hit Lynch in the knee. With a whoosh of breath, Lynch collapsed. Ed, surprise streaking across his face, scrambled to his feet, staring at Lynch. Lynch looked back in the same amount of surprise.

"What the hell just happened?" Okerby demanded, although his voice was blocked by the clogged nose.

"I don't know... Um, no one snap around me, alright?" Ed said, confused. "Apparently that triggers a response."

"Really?" Lynch said sarcastically as he got to his feet.

"Hey, there better be room left in the group that's going for my team," Gibbs suddenly growled. "We're going back to his home country, and it might as well be with you guys."

"You have no authority to demand that-" Okerby began.

"We know Ed better than you two do, and we'll be able to recognize anyone he's mentioned better than you'll be able to. Let us go through, Okerby," Gibbs responded. "Besides, we're part of the team in charge of the portal anyway."

Okerby studied him for a minute. Then: "Fine."

* * *

"Campfire," Gibbs announced, quietly yet loudly enough that Ziva, Dinozzo, and McGee gathered in the room they were stationed in at the FBI Headquarters. "Ed. We can't drag him along if he's unwilling, but we can't just not let him go."

"He's going to go eventually, whether he wants to or not. Lynch and Okerby will see to that," Dinozzo said.

"I agree. But he will vanish when he's told, and it will be hard to convince him otherwise," Ziva reminded. "Is there anyone we could persuade him to go? I know that we already tried, but there has to be some way to get him to go."

"What if we don't tell him where he's going?" McGee suggested.

"He'll be able to tell when we have him go through the portal, Probie," Dinozzo sighed.

"We'll just have to get him to go. Enough pressure, and we'll be able to convince him eventually. We'll avoid all the cities that he's been to, and hope no one recognizes him. In case he decides to run anyway, McGee will put a tracker on him, and we'll just drag him through. This time we're just going to see where he's been, and who'll recognize him," Gibbs said.

"That'll work." Ziva nodded.

"Yeah, um, how am I going to get it on him without him noticing, and make sure it stays on him?" McGee asked.

The other three stared at him for a moment, and then left without answering. McGee was left there, clueless.

* * *

a/n: Ed bitching at FBI and CIA. Not as fun as Umbridge pwning, admittedly, but better than nothing. This one took a long time to write, because all those diagrams I mentioned Ed drawing and writing out? Remember those? Yeah, well, I drew every single freaking one of them to make sure I was following his thought line correctly.

* . Basically, the symbols each mean something close to a letter. Some of you may have guessed it right. Then, you take two rows of thirteen boxes, and put the first half of the alphabet in the top half, and the last half backwards in the bottom half. Kind of like:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N

You take a letter, say, 'k', and take the corresponding letter opposite it. So, 'k'= 'p'. And 'u' would equal 'f'. Anyway, I went ahead and flipped it, so that you didn't have to. And then from here, you write it in mirror hand writing, which roughly translates into an old writing alphabet, is partially uncoded again, and then flipped back into Amestrian, and then uncoded again. On good days. (I'm kidding. I have no idea what Ed's codes are.) Hey, you're lucky I didn't throw in the Masonic coding too.

Alright, I realize that Ed normally would have jumped at the chance to go back. However, I need him to stay here for a while longer, and also, I think part of the Gate would have been influencing him. A part of his mind is telling him he's not supposed to go through, even though he can. Once he realizes the full story, he'll head through without a problem. Understand?

Another thing. Some of the things he is knowing or assuming without hearing it. That's because he's using instinct. It's like when you can't remember a word and someone says it, your brain clicks. _{Three...two...one...DING! Your toast is done.}_

Okay, next chapter should be up soon. In the mean time, R&R! _{I am waaaay too lazy to read through all of that and find places to put amusing comments, so I'm just going to say...give me yo cookies.}_


	8. For Ed

For Ed

a/n: I'm back again. _{Oh no, this can't be good for our health. Wait, I'm a zombie. Why do I care again? Oh right, the cookies.}_ I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS, cause I can't draw worth shit and I've never directed a move or show in my life. _{Tsuki the zombie, on the other hand, can do damn near everything__ so I can claim ownership to it alllllll. Yay me.} _

* * *

The Truth rested an arm on his leg, thoughtful. There had been something nudging at his mind for a while. It was time to adress it. He sighed. "This is a new one on me. I guess that Fullmetal kid really is something. For the first time ever... Truth...God...All...One...whatever some call me...will pay a price. Because of an alchemist. Hm. That Fullmetal... I didn't think he'd be this amazing..."

* * *

"Ling is coming?" Mustang asked in surprise, looking up from his desk at Hawkeye. She nodded. "Huh. Wonder what happened. I doubt he's dropping in for a friendly visit. He's still getting used to ruling.."

"What's wrong with a friendly visit?" Ling's voice suddenly asked. "What's with that expression?" Ling asked, dropping in from the window behind Mustang. Mustang had an expression on between disbelief and annoyance. "Although you're right. It's not a friendly visit."

"So? What's going on?" Mustang asked, turning around to face Ling. "And you do know there's a door, right?"

"Well, of course there's a door, for you people with no imagination.*" Ling smirked. "Drachma's forces are gathering."

"They always are. What's different this time?"

"They gathered in the desert a while back. A Xingese group of travelers reported it, and I sent a patrol out to investigate. They were gathered heavily around something, but they're not moving. Which is strange, since it's the middle of the desert," Ling said. "Know what that's about?"

There was a pause, but all of them in the room had one thought on their mind.

"I think Fullmetal probably just did something. Other than that, I don't have a clue," Mustang replied. "Why aren't they moving?"

"I don't know. It seems like they're gathering around a particular spot, like there's something there. I don't know what it is." Ling paused. "Any word from Ed?"

"No. Sorry. None from your end either?" Ling shook his head regretfully. "Doesn't matter. He'll be back. I've got fifty bucks on it. And he still owes me money, speaking of which."

"Are you still stuck on those fifty cenz?" Al asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course. Why shouldn't I be? Why did you come in person, Ling?"

Ling grinned. "I get the feeling you're going to be attacking the Drachman group sometime soon. If you do, Xing will back you up. I'd like to know what they're interested in." Ling paused. "You know, I still don't have a legal passport. So if we're moving, it should probably be soon before I get kicked out of Amestris. Or thrown in jail. Again."

Mustang sighed. "Is it really that hard to get a normal passport? Although I'm pretty sure you have diplomatic immunity."

"Oh yeah... Keep forgetting that. So when are we attacking?"

"You do realize you've gone between knowing we're going to attack to assuming back to knowing again, right?"

"Yup."

* * *

"That went well," Ling commented, staring at the remains of the battlefield. Drachma hadn't even stood up for a fight; they'd just sprinted for the other side of the desert. The Xingese and Amestrians could still see their retreating backs. "Okay, who wants to go through the weird floating thing first?"

"Look." Hawkeye pointed at the portal as brief static flew from it. "Someone's coming through."

"Oh, well then, let's say hello." Mustang smirked.

"Fuhrer..." Hawkeye sighed. "Be reasonable when talking to them."

"I know, I know." Mustang suddenly let out an exasperated sigh, and looked up at the clouds. "Damn it. At the rate this is going, we're all going to owe Breda fifty bucks."

"I'm going to be rich!" Breda cheerfully exclaimed.

"You say that until you look at Fullmetal's bank account," Ross muttered. "That takes a whole new meaning to 'rich'."

A group of people walked out of the portal. A few people instantly stood out. One of them was noticeably injured, with a broken nose. Another was looking around cheerfully, and happily talking to no one in particular. Part of the group was a bit split off, and it contained three males and one female. All four focused on the Amestrians and Xingese immediately.

"Okay, so should we like, split up into different-" the happy one blabbered.

"Lynch," the man with the broken nose snarled.

"No, I mean, it'll work if we-"

"Agent Lynch! Shut up!" the person who appeared to be the leader of the group that had split off suddenly said irritably, and smacked 'Agent Lynch' upside the head. When Lynch irritably looked up at him, the older man gestured to the Amestrians and Xingese.

"Okay that's some serious eye sight there, considering the heat faze and stuff," Ling muttered. Then he cocked his head in afterthought, and the few who had heard him glanced at the two Armstrongs. "Never mind."

"Oh. Sorry. Hi! How you doing!" Lynch yelled at them, waving. The agent beside him who had a broken nose face-palmed. And then instantly regretted it. The two men and the one female behind the older man burst into hushed snickers. The man with the broken nose muttered something, and crossed back through the portal. The man with graying hair rolled his eyes.

Ling waved back at Lynch. "Hi!", then said to the ones around him, "Do you think they would be insulted if I asked what planet they're from?"

"I don't know, want to try it?" Mustang responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay. Hey, what planet are you from? Do they have good food?" Ling shouted. Lan Fan sighed.

"They've got good pizza!" one agent yelled back.

"Um, I'll get back to you on that."

"Pizza's this food, where they put bread on the bottom, and then a mixture of... Uh, Probie? What's in it?" The agent turned to the other man beside him.

That agent sighed. "I haven't been a probie for a long time, Dinozzo. And it's bread, tomatoes, a few spices, cheese, and whatever you put on top of it."

"Okay, off of our eating habits, why are you here?" Mustang asked.

"Well, after some guys stormed through throwing threats, we figured it might be a good idea to figure out what's on this side." The elder man folded his arms. He had a self-assured aura that also emanated confidence and disinterest, but at the same time the feeling that if you decided to do something stupid, he'd take you out.

"Drachma? Yeah, they kind of abandoned camp after we chased them out," Mustang responded. "I doubt they'll be coming through with any threats they said any time soon. Besides, they've been trying to take our country for decades, and they still can't get past the first fortress."

"You're all from one country?" Lynch asked.

"No. They're Amestrians"-Ling motioned to them-"and we're Xingese." He motioned to the rest. "Drachma can't take Amestris. They don't have any interest in Xing. Although the desert separating us might have some things to do with that..."

"Then why were they here now?" the man asked.

"I'm guessing they just managed to skim the desert, and happened across this. We heard that they were spotted here, and we threw them out. Them being that close to Amestris without a fortress like Briggs in between them was worrying. Well, not worrying, but an inconvenience," Ling corrected. "We're allies, so we helped out."

"Ah. The country on the other side of this is the United States of America. These are FBI agents..." the man named them, "CIA agents..." he named them as well, "and agents Dinozzo, Ziva, and McGee. I'm Agent Gibbs."

"So, who owns the land we're standing on?" Lynch asked.

"Unclaimed. Neither of us wants a barely hospitable piece of desert. Speaking of which, should we move this conversation out of the previously mentioned desert?"

* * *

*"Okay, so their agents are going into our history, and

we're sending agents to look into theirs, although it's just

a cover to find out more about Fullmetal?" Abby asked

through the phone line.

"So, we're sending people to look at their history,

although we're only going through

to see if we can get word of Ed?"

Al asked as they walked through the portal.

"Yup. I doubt they let many teenagers into the

military, so it won't be hard," Gibbs responded.

"Yeah. Your brother's probably going to make

some sort of commotion, and we'll find

him easily," Mustang answered.

Gibbs: "Has he remembered anything yet that

could help us?"

Abby: "No, sorry."

Al: "I don't suppose any of the agents told you

something that could help lead us to onii-san**?"

Mustang: "No, sorry."

Abby: "So, we're figuring this out by ourselves?"

Al: "We have to do this without

knowing the other world that well?"

Gibbs: "We'll figure this out, Abbs. We always do."

Mustang: "Hey, we defeated supposedly

immortal beings that were leading our

own country. I'll bet we can figure this out."

Gibbs: "We'll find out more about Ed and help him

regain his memories,

Mustang: "If we find Ed over there, we'll bring him home,

Gibbs: no matter what."

Mustang: no matter what."

* * *

"Hey, boss, I've got something," McGee called. Gibbs walked around some of the book shelves in the room they were letting them read through, and joined McGee along with the other NCIS agents. "This." He pointed at a passage.

Ziva looked over their shoulder. "Oh, wow."

"What does it say?" Dinozzo, who had gotten there too late to get a reading spot, asked.

"He joined the military at eleven, and as he thought, they let him in because he was an alchemical prodigy. They probably also let him in because they were short of hands after the Ishval extermination. After that, he quickly gained a name among the civilians, because he didn't stick as close to the military as others did. There was an uprising, and Fuhrer King Bradley was overthrown and killed during it, although it was later revealed that he was a Homuculus. Right after the uprising, he left and was never seen again." Gibbs frowned at the page. "Anyone here know what a Homunculus is in that context?"

"A Homunclus is a representation of a human. So, Bradley was not human is what they are saying?" Ziva asked.

"Basically. That must have ticked them off," Dinozzo commented.

"They knew," McGee suddenly said. "Flame, Fullmetal, Strong Arm, and the ones who worked with them. They knew he wasn't human, and that's why they wanted him gone. It wasn't because they wanted the power, it was because he was a threat to the country, probably literally. I mean, could you imagine Ed trying to kill someone for a reason short of that?"

"We don't know whose listening. Until he decides he wants to come, best not mention his name," Gibbs said. "Let's find out more about the Homunculus. Figure out if there were any more."

"I read something about that. I will see if I can find it again, but I thought it was a fable. However, if they wrote it down in there, I doubt it was fictional," Ziva said, and led them back to where she had been looking. "Here it is," she said a minute later. "Eight Homunucli attacked the country, and tried to turn it into a Philosopher's Stone, something that would have killed everyone. One, Greed, turned against the others and joined the Amestrians who were fighting against the Homunculi. Reasons behind that turn were complicated. The reason for the first Homunculi's creation is unknown as of yet, or hasn't been reported. However, as time passed, seven Stones were created after the first one, and each became the core for a Homunculi. These seven were named after the seven sins: Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, and Pride. Their leader was called the Father. I didn't read past there.

"They infiltrated the country by first posting Wrath as the country's Fuhrer, more commonly known as King Bradley. His wife was unknowing about what was going on, but their son was said to have been adopted. However, the son was Pride. The other Homunculi worked behind the scenes to take out any threats. Some casualties were taken before any thing was completely known, but by the time the resisters figured things out, the Homunculi were taking their own casualties. In Briggs, Sloth was blasted out of the fortress via cannon fire, and was frozen by liquid dumped on him in the freezing cold. He was later killed by the Strong Arm alchemist, Louis Armstrong, General Olivier Armstrong, and two others who wish to remain anonymous, although it is known that they were married, and one was the Fullmetal alchemist and his brother's teacher. Pride and the Father were both killed by the Fullmetal Alchemist, and on the same day, Wrath was killed by an Ishvalan named Scar, and Envy was killed by the Flame Alchemist, as was Lust on an earlier date. Gluttony was swallowed by Pride, and Greed was killed by the Father in an attempt to take over his body.

"During the Homunculi's attempts to create a Philosopher's Stone, everyone in Amestris was momentarily killed, before an alchemical array that had been set up before was activated and reversed the process. That same day, the last four Homunculi were killed. In some ways, the war was reported to have, in a sense, helped. The next Xingese ruler was chosen, and when he took power, he announced that the security of the new noble family, the Yao, also extended to another family, the Chang. He also united all the clans shortly afterward. The reason this is known to be related to the war comes from the new leader, his two bodyguards, and a member of the Chang family had participated in the war, and there gained the knowledge that allowed them to claim the next position to the throne.

"Other than the country of Xing, Amestris and Ishval also came to an agreement. To the surprise of many, most of the remaining Ishvalans participated in the revolution. Amestris afterward assisted in the rebuilding of their country, which is still going on. Amestris gained two new Fuhrers in short succession, although the first one did not die from another revolt, but instead simply old age. The Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, replaced him." Ziva suddenly stopped, and cocked her head. She quickly closed the books as they heard the door opening. A woman stepped in, and spotted them.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I just came in to drop some books off and pick some up. I didn't realize you were in here..." She dropped the books she had in a stack, and started to pick up part of one beside it. She stopped when she caught a glance of the book title they had been reading. "Is that...? Oh, you were reading some of the most recent history. That version got it all correct, although some others muddled it."

"The Homunculi exist?" Dinozzo asked in surprise.

"Make that past tense. They were all killed in the war."

"They sound like they were hard to kill," Ziva noted.

"We had our own casualties. A few were killed, and the Fullmetal Alchemist..." The woman bit her lip for a few seconds, and then a smile quirked at her lips. "The book doesn't mention it, since this happened after it was written, but so many doubted that he died, that bets have started up across Amestris on how long it'll take for him to return. Actually, Fuhrer Mustang and his subordinates more or less started the whole thing." She let out a laugh. "I guess that says something about him. Um, I'm Sheska."***

"Oh, hi," Ziva replied. "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. I'll let you get back to work. Sorry for the interruption." She picked up the stack of books again, and hurried out of the room.

"Well, that was...illuminating, to say the least," Dinozzo said after the door closed.

* * *

"Okay, so this country's actually relatively new. This would probably be easier to understand if I knew what these countries were, and where. Please tell me one of you actually figured something out about where the pipsqueak is." Mustang sighed as he looked up at the Amestrians around him. He had taken his usual group, and Al had joined them.

"They've got some serious technology. It's going to take me a while to figure it out," Fuery explained. "From the way things seem to be set up, I'm going to have to figure out their technology before we can find anything about him."

Mustang sighed again as something occurred to him. "Where are we, again? Between the FBI agent and the CIA agent, things got so-" He stopped suddenly, and his eyes narrowed. He stood, and the others turned to him in surprise.

"Um, we're in the CIA building... Are you alright?" Breda asked.

"Fullmetal's here. Or he's in the FBI building," Mustang said quietly. Stunned silence answered him.

"What?" Al finally asked.

"The group that met us was in charge of the portal. I doubt they would send an injured agent through, considering the amount of people who would be capable in this building. Okerby went through for a specific reason, and when he accidentally broke it again, he wasn't able to. The NCIS agents were concerned about looking at our reports. However, they also made sure they were in a room that would allow them to also look at military personnel general background. Ed probably broke Okerby's nose, and the agents wanted to look into his past. The FBI and CIA are some of the best, if not the best, in the country, so he would probably be at one of their buildings," Mustang explained.

"That makes sense..." Al said. "But we can't go around asking on that logic. Knowing onii-san, he probably went under a alias or something."

"Knowing Ed, he probably did," Mustang replied. "Split up. He's here, we just need to find him.

* * *

Havoc rolled through the hallways. They'd split from the room half an hour ago, and no one had reported finding him yet. They were all still looking.

He turned the corner, and stopped in surprise. Ed was only a few feet off, staring at the ceiling and leaning against the wall. He was thinking about something, and ignoring everyone around him.

Havoc pulled up next to him, and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. "Ed?"

Ed looked down in surprise in reaction to the name. "Yeah? Did someone send you to get me?"

Havoc frowned. "No. We've been looking for you."

It was Ed's turn to look confused. "What? Who's 'we'?"

A bad feeling gripped Havoc. "Do you recognize me?" he asked slowly.

Ed didn't respond for a second.

"No. I'm sorry, I don't recognize you at all."

* * *

*This part is confusing, but I'm doing this to compare what's going on between the two sides to show that they're working similar, and doing something secretly although if they just admitted what they were doing it would make the whole thing easier. If it's to the side, it's from the point of NCIS. If it's in the center, it's the FMA people.

** I know a lot of translations say that this is nii-san, but damn it I can speak Japanese and this is actually onii-san as a translation for older brother. Does this look a lot like older sister? Yes it does:one-san. However, some people have reminded me that the 'o' makes things more polite. So therefore, nii-san is just a less formal version of saying 'brother'. Either way's correct. Don't worry; the language only gets more complicated. (aunt is oba-san with a non-emphasized 'a', but grandmother is oba-san with an emphasized 'a'. And grandfather and uncle are like that as well with jii-san)

*** I can't find her first (last depending on how it's thought of) name. I don't think it was ever mentioned.

Once again, sorry about the confusing part, but I thought if I put them apart it'd be harder to see the similarities. Funny thing I've noticed: if Ed Ranting is capitalized, and then given an acronym, it's ER.

By the way, note that the portal opened AFTER the Truth decided this. The portal is NOT the price he's going to pay. _{No, he's gonna give me COOKIES!} {Hundreds of thousands of cookies.}_


	9. Brain Picking

Brain picking

Despite the name, no one in this story becomes a psychopath. _{Except me. Oh wait, I already am one...I should add it to my title: Tsuki the psychopathic cookie-eating zombie. Moo.}_

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or NCIS. The characters of whom I'm sure would both like to go to the Carolina Rebellion. _{o.O}_ You never know... (Carolina Rebellion is going to be an awesome grouping of bands in May. Just learned that I won't be able to make it. X\ )

* * *

"You found him?" Al nearly shouted. "Where is he?"

Havoc rubbed his head. "I let him go again." The others started to protest, before he hushed them. "I don't know why, but it was Ed, he responded to the name, but he had no idea who I was. He said he didn't recognize me."

The others stopped their complaints.

"He... he didn't recognize you?" Mustang asked.

"Not in the slightest. He didn't know who I was."

"Could... the Truth have taken his memory?" Al thought out loud. "It'd explain why no one would've told us he was here. They might not have known that we knew him."

"How can we get his memory back?" Hawkeye asked.

"I don't know if we can. When the Truth takes something, it's hard to get back," Mustang responded bitterly.

"It might not be this time," Hawkeye pointed out. "He sent him to another universe as well. He might be able to get his memory back, since he had a compounded amount taken from him."

"He's getting home already, if he wants to return," Breda said.

"No, I see Hawkeye's point. Getting back won't mean anything if he doesn't know who the people there are or anything along those lines," Mustang said. "He might not be able to pass through the portal, but that wouldn't make any sense if we could always come through. That'd take away some of the pain of not returning home. This doesn't make sense. And the only thing that would help this make sense is what Ed knows."

"I don't suppose talking to the Truth is an idea." Al frowned. "I don't think Ed believed that there were other universes out there. Why did he cross over then? He had a plan, otherwise he wouldn't have gone."

"Maybe it wasn't what he had planned. Maybe he wanted to sacrifice something else, but the Truth wouldn't let him," Mustang suggested. "How did he know his name was Ed?"

The others exchanged glances.

"Well, you said he responded to it, right? That at least means if he didn't remember it by himself that it's possible to get his memory back," Mustang said.

"Who's taking care of him right now? FBI, CIA? If so, should we tell one of them that we know him? Why's he here in the first place?" Falman asked.

"We can probably ask around, or hack into their paperwork or something. Most of that might already be done if Ed tells someone that he saw us, though," Fuery said.

* * *

"If someone comes and asks, should we tell them the truth, or leave things out?" the only woman in the room, Hawkeye, asked.

Ed was crouching in the ventilation system above, watching what was going on below. He'd followed the first person back to this room, and had found a vent in the bathroom. A few minutes of climbing through it, and he'd found the room again. He'd heard everyone's names as they'd come in, and some had sounded vaguely familiar. Why hadn't he recognized the person? He obviously knew him, and he'd remembered things easier with less direct mentions. Could he only remember things by himself?

He was guessing that the boy in the room who was close enough to be his identical twin was probably his brother. Ed was at a loss as to how he'd shrunk. Had the taller version just been something that his younger brother had picked up as a hobby?

Why again was he hiding in the vents? Ed frowned. It'd probably be easier to just walk in and ask how the hell he knew them. He was guessing that they were the group of people he'd known from the military. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to them, not after seeing Havoc's expression after he'd told him that he didn't recognize him.

Sitting there, watching them all, memories were resurfacing. He remembered lounging around, watching them come up with ideas that were probably illegal, but that worked all the same, and got what they needed done. A small smile came to his face as he realized that if anyone could get his memories back, it'd be this group. They did the impossible all the time anyway.

"Leave out the things that they don't need to know, and that they shouldn't know. For one, they don't need to know that he came through fighting an immortal being and visting the equivalent of God and getting sent here. Things like that. They might figure it out on their own, but that'll be their own doing," the one he was pretty sure was Mustang said.

A minute of silence fell.

"We have to pay up to Havoc now, don't we?" Fuery sighed.

"Oh yeah. Give me your money!" Havoc eagerly exclaimed.

"Hm. It seems I misplaced my bank account. Sorry, going to have to wait," Breda dodged.

"Hey, that's cheating!"

"So? It works!"

Ed shifted his weight, and his foot slipped.

* * *

"Oh come on, if you're going to offer up money, then at least-" Havoc broke off as there was a yelp, closely followed by the sound of something crashing. Something fell through the vent, and hit the floor, taking the table along with it. The table flipped over on top of whatever it was.

"...Shit," Ed's voice said irritably beneath the table.

"Well then." Mustang raised an eyebrow. "Some things just don't change, do they?"

Ed sat up from beneath the table, scowling at everyone. Mustang smirked in response, although there was a shadow of anxiety behind it. Al looked at him in worry from what he'd just heard, and the others looked surprised at the sudden appearance.

"You were up there the whole time, I'm guessing? Or close to the whole time?" Mustang asked.

"Yeah. I followed him...Havoc?...back." Ed glanced at the person he was pretty sure was Havoc, the man in the wheelchair.

"Got the name right," Havoc replied cheerfully. "Remembering, or did you just pick it up?"

"Both."

An awkward silence followed.

"While this is all fun, we should probably figure some things out. What do you remember?" Breda asked. "In the mean time, I can continue as a procrastinator."

"I don't remember names, but the Drachman general came through and spouted some out. I'm not sure if he did more harm than good though, since we learned quite a lot but he kinda declared war, so..." Ed frowned, getting to his feet.

"He 'sorta declared war'?" Hawkeye clarified.

"Well, yeah. I don't think he likes me," Ed said dryly.

"Really?" Mustang responded sarcastically. "Okay, so you don't know names, what _do_ you remember?"

"I never said I didn't know them. I heard some from Yaro, and some from you. The names sound familiar, and I can put them to people if I hear them. By the way, how the hell are shadows sharp?" Ed scowled.

"Why do you want to know? Did you remember a fight with sharp shadows?" Mustang raised an eyebrow, although the anxiety was creeping to the surface. Ed simply scowled in response.

"Does 'Pride' sound right?" Al asked quietly, having moved closer to Ed.

Ed blinked, and cocked his head. "Yeah. Sounds familiar too. Sharp shadows? He was... working with... some bastard... and Bradley... and others..."

"Well, not everything's gone, then." Some of the anxiety dulled down from Mustang. "Hey shorty, anything else you-"

"_Don't call me short! Or small! Or pipsqueak! I'll bash your brains out and feed them to you!_" Ed yelled.

Mustang smirked. "Haven't listened before, won't listen now." Ed scowled at him.

"Okay!" Al exclaimed, breaking the two up. "_Before_ you two decide to bash each other into walls, remember that you have innocent bystanders."

"Well, not all that innocent, but innocent enough for it to be mean to not at least let us get a running head start before you guys decide to throw someone out a window," Havoc corrected. "Or you two could just, say, not kill each other at all..."

"So, Yaro declared war on you? Or on the U.S.?" Hawkeye asked, redirecting the line of conversation.

"U.S., as long as they harbored me."

Mustang shrugged. "Simple enough to fix. Drag your ass back to Amestris, and they'll have to attack us to get to you, although I think it was supposed to be the opposite way around for their plans. Either way, Drachma won't have a valid reason."

"Besides, he doesn't know the technological advances," Fuery added, glancing at the computer in the room. "They're way ahead of us."

"Psh. Seen the nukes yet?" Ed snorted.

"The what?" Breda asked.

"Nukes. Like-screw it. Never mind. They've got machines that spit food too. And Godzilla."

"Godzilla? Fullmetal, what the hell?" Mustang raised an eyebrow while speaking crossly.

"You know, I think the part with the giant lizard thing attacking Japan may have been fiction," Ed amended. "Dinozzo's fault, not mine."

A pang flitted through Mustang, the other military personnel, and Al in the room. At that moment, Ed knew someone from a parallel universe who had no idea who the kid really was, what he had done, better than anyone he had lived his life around. When Ed told stories now, or blamed someone, he blamed someone he knew better than people he'd fought side by side with. When he recalled something incredibly stupid someone had done, he remembered someone he'd just met, not someone he'd be prepared to kill for, or damn nearly kill for. At least yell and swear and generally bitch a lot for./

/Ed paused, and he turned his head so that the shadows of the room covered his wince. He sat down on the table. Damn it. He knew Dinozzo, McGee, Abby, Ziva, Timothy, Ducky, Vance, and Gibbs from the NCIS team, the two agents who had interrogated him for mind-numbing hours, and a general who had all but screamed at him while yelling insults that made no sense but still hurt, all of them he knew better than the people he'd grown up with. The people who'd helped him along. The people he fought with./

/A minute of silence filled the room. Normally, it would have been easily filled with insults and arguing. But what was there to insult and argue when one person in the insults and argument didn't know what he was insulting and arguing about or for?

Mustang glanced over, to see if Ed was going to ask something anytime soon to break the silence. The person he saw was different from the usual Ed. The person sitting on the table was tired. Sad. Angry. Longing. Mad. And probably feeling useless.

Ed was used to beating the crap out of things and generally asking questions later (exhibit A: train high-jacking incident). He was used to at least having some sort of grasp on the situation, having people who he trusted to get everyone through at his back as much as he trusted himself and if not more, and knowing that even if he failed there would be someone who'd take his place.

This time, all he had were gaps. He couldn't beat the crap out of what he would call the problem, since that was his memories, or lack thereof. He didn't know what was going on or how he got there. He couldn't trust people, because the people he'd known since he got his memories back had either been people he'd just met and didn't know, people who were interrogating him, or people who had been screaming at him. He didn't know anyone. He didn't even know himself. Who was he supposed to trust in that situation?

The person sitting there was out for the fight. He'd lost what was important. With nothing left to fight for that he knew of, what was left was a lonely sixteen year old kid, with only scars to show for what he didn't know. He couldn't prove anything he was without his memories. People would know him to be the 'Fullmetal Alchemist, Hero of the People', but was the title if he didn't know what for? Was that fair to him? To someone who'd fought tooth and nail to shove his foot up God's ass and defy logic in deathly situations?

Mustang took a step forward. Ed didn't seem to notice, but the others glanced up at him, curious. "Come on, kid. I can think of at least two people who eagerly want to bash your head."

Ed didn't respond verbally. His flesh hand clenched. Other than that, he remained still.

Mustang glanced at his subordinates, and then at the door. He didn't even bother asking the younger Elric, already knowing the response would be a denial. The subordinates filed out dutifully, and nearly silently.

"Onii-san?" Al asked quietly.

A few seconds passed, before Ed shook his head. Between the shadows and his hair, his expression was unreadable. "I'm... not who they're waiting for. People... become who they are through what they experience. I've lost those experiences. They're waiting for someone to come home. And I'm not that person. I may never be again."

Al nudged him. "That's... not true. You'll get your memories back. You've already regained some, who says you can't regain them all again?"

"It won't matter. I don't think I'll ever get everything back. I...well, the previous me...can't come back home," Ed whispered, voice nearly silent.

_'Alright. There goes the kind and gentle attempt.' _Mustang's eyes narrowed slightly. Al sensed a change in tension, and glanced up as Ed's superior officer whacked the older Elric upside the head with enough force to knock his head forward a good few inches.

"The hell with that. You can't go back home 'cause you burned the thing down.* And you've got a girlfriend mechanic who's house you two stay at while you're in Risembool, so I guess you've got that. You _will_ go back, because I don't want to get buried by a housewife and a teenage mechanic, not to mention an old woman and a general who can scare Satan out of his pants. There is no 'previous you', because there _was_ and _is_ one idiot teenager, and he's sitting right here sulking about some stupid shit. You _will_ get everything back, because if we've bitch-slapped God this many times, I doubt we'll particularly care about storming up there and doing so again just to regain some memories back. Besides, you're regaining them well enough on your own anyway. Of _course_ you won't be the same person who left, because now you're not off slaying Homunculi and generally trying to get yourself killed. Besides, you're at the hormone age. Mood swings happen all the time, and are fine as long as you don't accidentally destroy the building you're standing in. And I'd hope that by now, you'd have _some sort_ of maturity after killing two 'immortal' beings, and if not, then you probably never will.

"Any more complaints you'd like to voice? No? Good, because since you're apparently not willing to go over to Amestris, we're kidnapping you and dragging you over there."

The two Elrics gaped up at him. Al in surprise, since he hadn't been expecting Mustang to change tactics that quickly, and Ed in a mix of emotions. For one thing, irritation. He didn't have any arguments against any of that. Maybe he did have a chance of getting everything back if that was one of his first reactions.

Mustang grabbed the back of Ed's jacket, and promptly pulled him off the table and tugged him and motioned Al to the door, which he opened. Ed still hadn't protested. When Al glanced back, he noticed that Ed actually looked kind of amused.

The Amestrians standing in the hallway took one look at them, and either face-palmed or sighed in exasperation. "Fuhrer..." Hawkeye said.

"We're kidnapping Ed until he figures out he's going back no matter what," Mustang answered.

"It wouldn't be best to let him come on his own?" Falman asked.

"And face Mrs. Curtis's wrath if she hears about this? Not to mention what'll happen to this poor building when she decides there's too many hallways. You'd rather have that then us simply kidnapping him?"

"He's got a point there." Havoc shrugged.

"Of course I do."

"Fuhrer, I think I'm required to remind you that there is a family member of H2O in this hallway and in easy access," Hawkeye said.

"Don't need flame to drag him."

"I know. I'm just required to say that after the generals decided that they'd had enough of you blowing up their papers when they needed something signed and you decided the paperwork was getting too big."

"So, if I do something that's going to get us all stuck in a bunch of crap, you're supposed to remind me there's water nearby?"

"Yes."

"Is it me, or do those agents over there look particularly pissed off at someone? Namely, us?" Breda pointed out.

"Yeah. Hey, look, fire exit." Mustang smirked, and snapped as the agents began to approach them. "No time for talking." He shrugged at Hawkeye's exasperated look, and practically threw Ed in to the emergency stairwell after he tossed the door open. "Al, make sure he gets home. We'll deal with the ensuing political crap." The door closed in time for them to hear Mustang yell at the two agents, "Hey, one of your suspects is escaping down the emergency exit! Are you just going to stand around?"

* * *

*I know that under any other circumstances, Mustang would never use this as ammo, less he lose his head courtesy of Ed's fist. However, he's trying to get Ed out of his mild depression by swearing at him and riling him up, while throwing him into a debate, because Ed normally is debating ( *cough* yelling his head off *cough*) with Mustang when he's around him. If you have any further problems with this, well... think of it this way, I'm still a bit uneasy about putting that part down, so don't yell at me about it. Yell at my conscience. Wait, let me think that sentence through again.

If this chapter had some serious potholes, don't worry, you're not imagining it. I know there were potholes, and the next chapter will fix them. Again, don't give me crap about that. Comprende?

And now, for some random insert I thought of!

* * *

"You know, I think the part with the random giant lizard thing attacking Japan may have been fiction," Ed amended. The others agreed with him, although they also had no clue what he was talking about.

Little did they know.

**Central:**

A giant lizard roared as it stormed its way through Central, ripping out random parts of buildings.

**Washington D.C.:**

"Yeah, totally fiction."

**Middle O' Nowhere, Indiana:**

Our mother: "Tsuki! Sekai! What have you done _now_?" Sekai: "Nothing..." Tsuki: "Hehe." _{I just wanted him to fetch me some cookies. Didn't realize Zilly was gonna go rampage the whole city to find them. *pouts* I never did get them back, because _someone_ had to go shoot him down with machine guns.} _Who, me? _**Nooo.**_


	10. Deep Roots Are Not Reached by the Frost

Deep Roots Are Not Reached by the Frost

a/n: Still don't own NCIS or FMA. Don't plan to either. _{She's just sad that I got there first.}_

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Okerby said, a tick appearing on his head. "You all were heading to the cafeteria, when the door opened and the kid ran out. He threw a burning piece of the table at some of our agents to distract them, and then took off down the emergency staircase which you were standing by. You didn't stop him because you didn't know what our protocol was."

"Exactly," Mustang responded, straight-faced.

Lynch clapped his hands together once. "Alright, well, what's done is done. Let's go find the kid and get him back here ASAP. I'll go call Gibbs and his team, tell them to keep a look out."

"Why do you need to call them? They're looking through our archives, right?" Mustang asked, keeping the suspicion out of his tone.

"If Ed doesn't remember where he's from, and he thinks he may be Amestrian, he'll probably go to Amestris. Gibbs and his team can track him down if he gets there. Ed doesn't know, but Agent McGee got a tracker onto him a while back. We'll get another tracking receiver over here too." With that, Lynch and Okerby left.

"Oh shit," Breda summarized after a quick pause.

* * *

"He's loose?" Gibbs asked into the phone. The other agents looked up at the glaring NCIS agent. "How the hell did he get out of a heavily guarded government agency building?... Of course he'll come back here, he's Amestrian. Yes, we know that for a fact. We found records of him. He's quite well known over here. ... Yeah, we'll get the tracker going. ... Lynch, I don't _care_ that about what you guys are doing, we'll find the kid." He flipped the phone closed.

"Ed got out?" Ziva asked.

"Yup. McGee, tracker," Gibbs said, turning to the techi of the group. McGee was already looking at a small, handheld device. "Where're we headed?"

"I don't know. It's about half the country of Amestris away... Here, can you get me a map?" Dinozzo yanked a map over, and McGee aligned what he had on the tracker to the map. "Alright, he's in this town... Risembool. We need to go to Risembool."

"That's his home town. Maybe he remembered?" Ziva observed.

"Maybe. Either way, let's go get him." Gibbs turned, and left the room. The other NCIS agents weren't far behind.

* * *

"Ed!" Winry shouted, jumping off the back porch, and slamming into Ed and Al. She hugged them both, and Den barked excitedly behind her. "Al! You found him?"

"Havoc did. The rest of us met him later when he crashed the party," Al explained.

"When he _what_?"

"Well, I crashed through the roof, that's for sure. Seriously going to hurt later. Who _makes _tables that hard?" Ed grumbled.

Winry looked like she was about to argue, but she sighed, and instead motioned the two inside. "Come on, you two. You're automail's probably about to fall off any second now. And if it does, I'm going to laugh. And whack you."

"Thank you so much," Ed grumbled with heavy sarcasm. Winry raised the wrench threateningly, and Ed stopped talking for a second. Then the door closed behind him, and he grinned evilly. "Hey, pea-sized midget!"

There was a pause, before Pinako's voice flew down the stairs shortly before she did, yelling, "Call me that again, pipsqueak, and let's see if I can make you any shorter!"

"Let's see you try-" Ed began, before Winry smacked him with her wrench.

"Stop arguing for _five minutes_ you two! You'll have a long time to yell later!" Winry shouted at them. "Jeez... Sometimes I think there's only two adults in the house, and neither are over eighteen!"

"There's probably a reason behind that," Al muttered. Ed rolled his eyes.

"I get no respect," the older Elric said.

"I wonder why," Pinako said sarcastically. "It's not like you have the maturity of a three year old."

"No," Al said, and Pinako glanced over at him. "Two year old. Ed's not that mature."

"I've been betrayed," Ed groaned.

"Yup. Deal with it." Winry pushed him toward a room, and began asking questions about the automail.

"So. Where'd you find the kid?" Pinako asked Al quietly enough that the ones in the other room couldn't hear her.

"We found a portal to another dimension, and he was on the other side," Al explained.

"He must have really been happy to get back here. He wouldn't stop looking at everything. And he waited a full three seconds before yelling insults." Pinako gave a faint smile. Al didn't respond. Pinako glanced over at him. "Al? Is everything alright?"

"It... actually kind of surprised me that he started yelling insults that soon." Pinako gave him a questioningly look, and he continued. "When Havoc found Ed... He didn't recognize him. He couldn't remember any of our names. He doesn't know how he got there. And when the NCIS team found him, he had no idea who he was. Pinako, Ed lost all his memory."

Pinako turned to him, shocked. "He... doesn't have any memory? At all?"

"He's beginning to get his memory back. Slowly, but it's coming back. We don't know if it will ever all be back, but maybe that's a good thing. His memories aren't exactly fields of flowers," Al said dryly. "Maybe the Truth took his memories, maybe they went on his own. Unless Ed gets his memories back, we'll never know."

"Well, this is new. Ed's not telling us something. Like that's never happened before."

* * *

"Okay, this is the place. He's right inside." McGee looked up in the house in front of him.

"Boss, do we...?" Dinozzo motioned to the gun on his belt.

Gibbs frowned briefly, before shaking his head. "Keep them in reach, but not out. In case these people remember him too." Gibbs stepped up to the door, and was about to knock before the door flew open. Ed bolted out, covering his head with one hand, along with another boy who could have passed as his twin.

"What the he-" Dinozzo began, before a teenage girl appeared in the doorway, shaking a wrench in one hand and Ed's right arm in the other.

"You two broke out of a government building? Hey, stop running and get back here! Your heads are mine!" the girl yelled after them.

"No thank you! We'll pass!" Ed yelled back.

The girl looked ready to yell again, before she looked up at the agents. "Who are you? Get back here, you two!" she asked the first part calmly and then shouted the last part back to the two boys, shaking her hand with the wrench.

"Uh..." McGee said, looking between the three.

"Oh, it's you guys. How'd you find us?" Ed called, obviously not willing to move closer to the house.

The girl threw the wrench, and it hit square-on, snapping Ed's head back, and landing him on the ground. The other boy laughed, and dodged a flying metal arm.

"Tracker," Gibbs said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were _tracking _me? What the hell?" Ed shouted, standing from the ground while rubbing his head. He scowled at the group. "Winry, my brain cells want to have a talk with you about your damn wrench."

"If you and Al would get back here, maybe I won't have to kill more of them!" Winry yelled, raising another wrench.

"Not much of an incentive, just saying," Ed called. Winry threw the next wrench, and Ed narrowly ducked under it. "Do you do target practice with those, or something?"

"Yeah. You two are my targets!"

Ed grumbled something under his breath. "Okay, what are you four doing here?" he shouted to the NCIS agents, while walking back to the house. Al was walking behind him, probably to hide behind in case more wrenches started flying.

"Two words: Okerby and Lynch," Dinzzo said.

"That's more than two," Ziva said.

"So, Okerby's about to have a heart attack, and Lynch's people are planning to shoot him if he doesn't do something?" Ed summarized.

"Yup, that's about it. You know Fuhrer Mustang and his people, don't you?" Gibbs asked, although it was obvious he already knew the answer. Ed and Al didn't respond, but Gibbs said, "They covered your escape successfully, by the way. Okerby and Lynch bought it."

Ed gave a grunt in reply. They were now only a few feet from the house. "Any message from Drachma?"

"None. Maybe they got the right idea and scrammed."

"You two have some explaining to do," Winry growled. Den wagged his tail beside her.

"Heh. Uh, yeah..." Ed rubbed the back of his head. "About that whole thing... Drachma kinda declared war on-don't hit me!" Ed covered his head again as Winry raised a third wrench. Dinozzo began to wonder where they were all coming from before he saw the tool belt she was wearing.

"They 'kinda declared war on you'?"

"Well, yeah."

"What the hell did you do? Are you an idiot? Oh, wait." Winry rolled her eyes.

"I didn't do anything! They just showed up, yelled a lot, declared war and left! And I'm not that stupid!"

" 'Not that stupid'?" An older woman smirked, walking up behind Winry. "You're not doing too well with words today." She looked up at the agents. "I'm Pinako Rockbell, this is Winry Rockbell, and that's Alphonse Elric. You already know Ed. Are you just going to stand out there?"

* * *

The phone rang a few minutes later. Ed sighed, and being the nearest, picked it up. "What?" he snapped into the phone. Part of the irritation was from the after effects of the limb that had just been reattached, and the rest was from the NCIS agents. Did they really think it necessary to _track_ him? It wasn't like he randomly up-and-left whenever he found something he felt he needed to follow on his own. Wait, why did that sound familiar?

"So I take it you two got back there safely, then?" Mustang asked.

"Yeah."

"Figured you might want to know that the FBI and CIA are having fits and that the NCIS agents might show up any time soon. You have a tracker on you," Mustang said. "Find the tracker, and then you and Al need to get out of there. We would've contacted you sooner, except this was the first chance we got to get back to Central. The phone lines over there don't connect to the ones over here. Obviously."

"Well it's a little late for that." Ed rolled his eyes, and didn't bother to lower his voice. The others in the room looked at him, curious. "They're sitting in the freaking living room already."

"Huh. Didn't expect them to get there that fast. Well, there goes that plan."

"No shit, Sherlock. Anymore stunning wisdom from you for the day?"

"Yup. Group of Drachmans got their asses kicked when they tried to cross between the portals. Retaliated at Briggs and tried to attack there since they figured out you were back in Amestris, and General Armstrong made roast beef out of them."

Ed paused, before saying, "There goes that problem, I guess. No more trouble looking like it's coming from them, then?"

"No shit, Sherlock," Mustang repeated. "Drachma's going to be out of business for a while. Again. Do they ever learn?"

"Apparently not."

Winry figured out who was on the other end of the phone. "If that's Mustang, tell him it's probably best not to break out of a government building who might be able to ally with you later on."

"Winry says if Al and I break out of a possibly ally's government building again she's going to throw our asses off a ten story roof." At Winry's death look, he added, "Well, that was the underlying tone to the original message, anyway."

"Okay, well, don't get caught by a government again. It's not like you've been making a habit of that lately. Alright, don't get yourselves killed anytime soon. Paperwork, you know." The phone clicked off, and Ed rolled his eyes at it.

"What'd he say?" Gibbs asked.

"Apparently, Drachma tried to attack the U.S. He didn't give details, but they were sent running. Drachma must have figured out that I wasn't there anymore, and tried to attack Briggs. Well, they did attack it, but taking it they failed at. General Armstrong kicked their asses again," Ed said.

"What are you going to do now?" Ziva asked.

"Never had a plan, never will," Ed responded easily.

"Some plan," Dinozzo muttered.

"I know, I'm a genius." Ed stuck his tongue out at Dinozzo.

"Hm. Did you think about Abby?" McGee reminded.

"What about-oh she's going to kill me."

"Yup, she is. She told us to tell you that she wants to meet your mechanic, by the way," Gibbs said.

"What?" Winry asked.

"Abby's their forensic scientist. She does the fingerprinting and DNA and stuff," Ed explained. He got three blank stares in return. He sighed. "Never mind. She'll show you. Just know that she's kind of hyper. And hugsy. Just less so then Armstrong."

"Uh, General Armstrong? The one reported kicking Drachman ass?" McGee raised an eyebrow.

"No, her brother. General Armstrong's scary. She threatened my antennae!" Ed instinctively raised his hands toward his head, as if making sure that his hair was still there. Al rolled his eyes at him, and Ed continued. "Major Armstrong's more... outgoing and not glaring all the time. They're polar opposites."

"Yeah. Alright, let's head over there," Ed said. "Might be able to avoid my teacher if we do."

"Didn't she also say to bring over your teacher?" Ziva asked.

"No!" Ed and Al both shouted and nervously shook their heads. Ziva raised an eyebrow. "She'll kill me!" Ed squeaked.

"And I'll get caught in the cross-fire!" Al added.

"You know she'll find you eventually," Winry reprimanded.

"So?"

* * *

By the Gate, the Truth smirked. His price had been paid. He had no debts.

* * *

Ed woke up a week later. His arm had been tingling all week, and he had been reluctant to tell Winry in case she decided the easiest way to solve the problem would be to whack his head with a wrench. Which she seemed to think would be the solution no matter what.

His memories had been returning more quickly, now that he was back home. Not that he would admit it, but he had regained a lot of memories when Izumi and Sig had caught up with them and done some head bashing. There were only brief parts he couldn't remember, but it wasn't like he had remembered every single detail of his life when he hadn't lost his memories. Besides, he knew what had happened.

Ed sat up, and put his right hand down on the bed to push himself off.

Something was different.

Ed frowned, trying to figure out why. He glanced down at his arm, and put pressure on it. His frown deepened. Normally, there was the slightest creak of automail when he-

Ed shot up off the bed, and yanked his glove off.

There was no automail there. Only a hand made of flesh and blood.

* * *

_All that is gold does not glitter,_

_Not all those who wander are lost;_

_The old that is strong does not wither,_

_Deep roots are not reached by the frost._

_From the ashes a fire shall be woken,_

_A light from the shadows shall spring,_

_Renewed shall be the blade that was broken,_

_The crownless again shall be king._

_-Lord of the Rings, _J. R. R. Tolkien

* * *

a/n: *bows* I stop this story here. Ed continues on to gather all his memories, and retires from the military. Winry continues to bash his head inside out. Al continues to be the mediator. Mustang continues on to the position of Fuhrer, because if he didn't then the FMA fans would go on a rampage. With that last note, I close this FMA/NCIS crossover I have created. _{If you like this, you will send me cookies. Thousands of them...} {Me? Trying to hypnotize you? Nooooo...} {Wait, is it working?}_ No, not rea-coookiiieeessss...

I want your opinion. Should I keep writing my stories like this, where I post them one at a time after they have been completely written, or do I post them as soon as I write each chapter? 'Stand to Fall and Rise Again' is my guinea pig for posting them as soon as I write them, by the way.


End file.
